Employers on Friday defended the practice of seeking to import labour that firms consider unavailable here.
The Barbados Employers Confederation (BEC) responded to the General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Toni Moore who on Thursday condemned the “troubling” practice of companies hiring foreign workers to fill positions that the union said could be filled by citizens.
Moore also called on employers to be transparent about their employment criteria and explain publicly what exactly is meant by local applicants being “unsuitable”.
But the organisation which represents employers hit back, contending that it is always a priority for businesses to secure Barbadian talent who understand the culture and nuances of the Barbadian business landscape.
BEC President Gail-Ann King also rejected Moore’s call for companies to publicly explain their employment criteria related to “unsuitable” Barbadian applicants.
“It is not valuable, as it adds minutia and additional layers of bureaucracy for a process that is already well administered by the Government of Barbados,” King told Barbados TODAY.
She also argued that many companies have comprehensive policies and practices around talent acquisition.
“Companies tend to look externally when there are supply issues in an area, sector or even in an entity that threatens its delivery on key areas of performance or growth. It is difficult to generalise and make a sweeping statement on what is apt as different conditions require different actions.
“Critical to an entity’s decision to seek external candidates is also the labour market’s response to local recruitment efforts, which may not be as robust as public perception may believe,” King said.
The BEC leader said Barbados has strong governance around the immigration process where firms are required to prove that there are no suitable domestic candidates and an appeal process for people who feel aggrieved.
She noted that as part of the CARICOM free labour movement, workers move freely across the borders all the time, inclusive of many Barbadians migrating to take advantage of opportunities that fit with their personal and professional goals.
King said: “As we continue to monitor the population challenges locally, immigration continues to be only one option to ensure our businesses and economy on a whole continue to survive, grow and thrive. There has been a lot of investment in aspects such as training and growing our people. The local talent supply challenge is compounded by brain drain where younger educated persons are choosing to not only study but work overseas, before returning home with the experience, in countries such as Canada which themselves are experiencing labour shortages.”
She stressed that as employers continue to build the nation and businesses, they continue to focus on honing local talent.
But she said employers and the country have to continuously look at the alternatives.
Moore’s condemnation followed a published notice in which a supermarket retailer stated that having received no suitable responses to its advertisement for the position of Assistant Store Manager, Perishables, it intended to apply for a non-national to fill the position.
The union boss contended that this is not an isolated incident but part of a troubling pattern which the BWU has observed in Barbados.
“Such practices where local talent is overlooked are not just disappointing but also a serious disadvantage to our skilled and educated workforce,” Moore declared, contending that the issue “strikes at the very heart of our national pride and employment ethics”.
The umbrella body for trade unions, the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations (CTUSAB), also weighed in on the issue, demanding an investigation into the criteria which employers use to determine the suitability of Barbadian labour.
General Secretary Dennis De Pieza called for a system to verify the validity of claims by employers who apply for work permits for non-nationals.
Speaking generally about the process of requesting work permits for non-nationals to fill posts, he highlighted the abundance of highly qualified individuals in Barbados, including graduates from the University of the West Indies and other accredited institutions in the region, saying it was “passing strange” when no suitable candidates could be found locally.
“If it is that that is what is being reported, then we have to ascertain whether their applications were actually received and interviews conducted [to] have some measurement to support if this claim has any validity.
“We also have in the Caribbean [and the diaspora] highly trained [persons] and we cannot and will no longer accept this claim [of] no suitable individuals. It is a nonsense that has to stop. We must find a way to make employers justify and validate the claims that they are making. If this is not done, it makes a mockery of what is being put out there about the avenues of employment available for people in Barbados and the Caribbean,” the CTUSAB official contended.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
