Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.
The editorial published in the Friday May 25, 2023 edition, can be easily described as “no-holds-barred” commentary, a “must read” for tourism executives, managers, and other local employers.
Go to the top of the class with a score of 99 per cent.
Falling short by one per cent, the article failed to emphasise the point that there must be a national conversation about employment practices and corrective action. Not only in the tourism sector, but across a diverse number of occupations, an unusual number of requests are being made for non-nationals to fill positions, with the reason – no suitably qualified persons applied for the vacancies.
Is that so?
It cannot be good and proper that a significant number of employers seek permission from authorities to allow foreigners to work.
On a regular basis, business owners seek work permits for cooks to construction workers, including welders, landscapers, for teachers, managers, financial accountants, and for other jobs that Barbadians train for from the basic level to the post-graduate level.
Included in the national conversation should be the matter about the employment of foreign nurses at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the polyclinics. The national conversation should also include the several factors impacting the current complement of the Barbados Police Service, but for the matter of national security.
At the national level, there are countless issues that must be plugged, but the recent cliche says “nothing is easy to fix”. The required conversation should rightly be centred around our national development plans about what and how we are teaching and training our children and what skills and competencies are required for our young people to play a meaningful role in the future development of our republic.
The ultimate question is “who or what is standing in the way of our national goals and objectives?”
The ultimate action is to get rid of the bottlenecks, the barriers, the blockages and the barricades – whoever or whatever they may be. Then as proud Barbadians there will be nothing to stop us from singing or reciting, “Upward and onward we shall go, Inspired, exulting, free, And greater will our nation grow, In strength and unity”.
Michael Ray ]]>