Gov’t pushes for revised labour policies this year
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley announced plans for updated labour policies in 2025, arguing that there is a need to balance the needs of local and foreign workers while supporting businesses.
“We passed the immigration policy, and we need a corresponding policy with labour,” the Premier said during the budget debate in the House of Assembly last month. “A big challenge for us has to do with how well we protect our local labour and what’s the balance between local labour and foreign labour.”
Dr Wheatley alluded to the potential for increased population due to planned developments, such as hotel projects and airport expansions. He stressed the need for labour policies that accommodate growth while maintaining a focus on local workforce development.
“The people of the Virgin Islands should accept the fact that if we do these things, the population will increase,” he said. “We have to make sure that our labour policies allow for persons to have the labour force to operate their businesses.”
Streamlining the hiring process
The Premier argued that current systems present challenges for both businesses and employees, making it necessary to streamline the hiring process.
“Right now, it’s too difficult to hire persons. Right now, it causes too much hardship on the businesses and too much hardship on the employees,” he stated. “So we have to have a policy which will allow persons to hire labour, the proper labour that they need to be able to function their businesses.”
According to the Premier, this will involve ensuring businesses can access the workforce they need while providing training and opportunities for Virgin Islanders educated at local schools and those returning from university. “We want to help the employers solve their challenge of getting qualified personnel, and we want to make sure that Virgin Islanders have opportunities in their own homes,” he said.
“We are going to produce a labour policy which will stipulate that,” Dr Wheatley added.
The Premier expressed that his government does not want an adversarial relationship with employers and plans to engage with them to achieve a “win-win” scenario.
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Policies cannot come before proper training and focus on education. We encourage our young people to become Lawyers and Financial Services Professionals and to work in airconditioned offices, now we want to act surprised because we need to import labour to fill the Hospitality, Construction and other technical areas in our economy. Your policies will not be worth the ink it’s printed with so save yourself the embarrassment.
No more beongerships by long stays…..7 years max and they gotta go
Your comment is at the height of ignorance, you have no clue…
Abolish work permits and most of the 2010 Labour Code and all of these business employment problems will solve themselves.
@over protectivec ..NOT. The government need to protect labor and immigration regardless of what expats say. Regardless of what locals say.
FROM BUSSINESS PERSPECTIVE IMMIGRATION AND LABOUR GROSSLY LACK THE PROFESSIONALISM TO DEAL WITH THE BUSSINESS COMMUNINITY . AS A BUSSINESS OWNER IT ALWAYS FEEL LIKE A “FIGHT WITH THESE TWO ENTITIES TO GET THINGS DONE.
Our biggest problem here seems to be the fact that everything no matter how simple takes a year and a Sunday to get done.
The grandfathered labour code, was put in place, to protect the working, social, and economic interests, of Virgin Islanders.
We have seen over the years, a subtle relaxation, of these laws, to accommodate foreigners, to the detriment of our people
..Today, many Virgin Islanders, are unemployed..
We depended on our leadership, to protect, the future, of our children.
And, instead, their futures have been summarily erased!
Let’s, see, Premier Wheatley, if you too, are going to continue in the ways of our ancestors, or sell us out, in the interests, of a few, rich, foreigners!
What local labor? How many local laborers ( as in bahn here) do you see on any construction site in the BVIs.