Labour shake-up will put systems and people in place for change
Minister of Labour Melvin ‘Mitch’ Turnbull said the shakeup of the Labour Department will see systems and people being put in place to bring change to the department.
When Turnbull was first appointed as minister in May, he mentioned there would be a major shakeup in the Labour Ministry which would make people uncomfortable.
In today’s press conference, Turnbull said his statement came on the heels of a statement made by Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley after negotiations were concluded with the United Kingdom on the way forward.
“As it relates to the Labour Department, my comments were in that vein but now that I am in and I have meetings with the staff and continuously on a daily basis received complaints from members of the community – the business community. The shakeup is simply putting a system in place with the people that are necessary and the people that are there to help them understand the importance of what we do,” Turnbull said.
“It cannot be common, and it cannot just be accepted that we have persons in this BVI having working permits sitting in the office for a year, a year and six months and the longest I have heard is two years somebody is waiting on a work permit. That is unacceptable. You cannot have persons in the BVI who have been here 14 – 20 years working and because they have received an extension from Immigration while waiting for Labour to process their permits told that they have to leave and go back to their countries. That is unacceptable to me,” the Labour Minister added.
He noted that the current system that exists is not working and he is determined to change the way the system works. Turnbull said this involved streamlining the process and cutting down on the number of persons that have to go through the work permit process in the department.
“I believe within the Labour Department, the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner should be doing the heavy lifting to going out and having the conversation with some of these employers in the territory who deal with labour issues, that deal with things that are on a higher scale in terms of how we effect the employment force of the BVI,” Turnbull said.
“This country operates on a vision that was cast some 30 plus years ago by H Lavity Stoutt where we were educating our people, trying to take the high-level positions in the territory. We have moved away from that in some sense. We continue to educate our people but now when our people come from college and even here locally, we have no place to put them,” he added.
The minister said he must ensure a balance is created and that the Labour Department understands it is not only essential in the higher end of the territory’s economy but in the everyday working force.
“It is our job to beef up our communication aspect, the customer service aspect of it, the information that we have on what is required for a work permit, what is required when we change jobs, what is required when you change employment,” Turnbull added.
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Mitch using the axe
He need to shut he trip from selling out the country he just want to get rid of ms Mclead
please put D* in a different department him make enough money and favors from is schemes now.
Who died and made you king. Trust me, at the end of the day, you will be the one to get shake up.
Minister don’t mind them. Clean the thing up. That is leadership.
We don’t care anymore. Do as y’all please. Same old tune for decades now. We dont’ even dance to it anymore. We are in your place, we chose to be here. Keep the indentured labour as you wish. When we are truly fed up we will leave in droves and by then it will be too late and BVI will be but a topic of the past. Enjoy the ‘power’ while it lasts.
COMPLAINS ARE MADE AND IT TAKES 1 YEAR TO BE ANSWERED AND YOU HAVE TO SUFFER UNDER EMPLOYER. WHEN YOU ASK ABOUT YOUR COMPLAIN THEY ARE SO RUDE. SOMEONE WILL CALL YOU. STILL WAITING ON THAT CALL.
let me , a born here belonger, know when you and your compatriots plan to leave. I will help arrange the flights/boats/barges/submarines/jetskis and even help you pack so the transition is a smooth as possible to help yall go back home.
Respond to this with your email address so we can link up and start the process.
I am here for yall, I support yall in the “threat” to leave, YES WE CAN!!! Si Se Puedo!!
#emailmeplease
This is just a humble suggestion. The college needs to get data from labor as to what jobs need overseas workers. They can then put a program together to get local persons trained in some of those areas. I go to certain places and the majority of their employees are clearly expats. Some unskilled. Why are those positions not held by locals. I’m not against expat workers I am one myself but to see the numbers of foreigners here I’m wondering what happened to the local workforce.
that was real funny ?
What’s your email?need it to get a ticket for a plane.Thanks
Belonga. Short of real estate value from rich expats coming here your little fiefdom built on salt crackers. Actually salty crackers. Imported labor leave and rich lv leaving you with ?? Nothing short of beauty in land and a few signatures from finance evaporating.
Any time y’all barnhyere run mouth like that, must slap ya into reality. Check? Can’t feed us elf and if drugs get stopped last leg drop. Poof.
Please stop the noise every year when you all dont get it your way you say that people would leave in drone and people that have left now wanting to come back here .
Mitch I think you are doing a good job. McLean been there and destroyed the private sector for Wheatley’s benefit so I agree with you. As a local my business suffered as she refused to give me people to work and also refused to renew who o had permits for. Don’t mind anyone that’s a good move
What stopping you from leaving now? It’s apparent that you have no intention of seeing the growth and development of this Territory as your home. 20 yrs plus and folks are calling here home. They have adapted to the likeness of changes and customs. They love BVI and proud to call it Home. You don’t here them saying they going pack up and go back home. Just say your intention was to make money $US and go back home.
If it is “unskilled” labor then training people is not going to make any difference. Because locals don’t want those jobs and they think they are above doing those jobs.
Gov. please just put an end to this madness. Same old peeps spewing out garbage and stirring the s**t. Nothing getting done. Dissolve the HOA, sooner the better
I’m starting to look at you Mitch as a real leader. U re brave and courageous..We being crying for changes of personnel in Labour and immigration and you have deliver on your end ..Nice!
move and shut up
him need to go moved to a next department now man. he is a undercover snake to everybody coworkers, employer and employee big news carrier.
you sound so wise , it’s no wonder the white lady is taking over in the holy land , but hey show the rest of the world how evil we U
are doing a fine job of attention to our hidden racism
I lived in the BVI for 18 years and was told I have to leave the island if I didn’t get my permit in a month. I had to leave everything I worked for over the years.just like that. Same thing with my exemption,was told I have not contributed enough to get exemption.
Locals don’t want to do the unskilled jobs, even if they are not skilled. They prefer to ride bikes and push drugs, or work for Government when they are never actually there, always “just stepped out”. Let’s face it, $6 an hour is terrible wages and no local would work for that, so that’s why there are so many expatriates.
As an immediate quick solution, extend all existing permits to two years from when issued. That will stop all renewals for a period and allow staff to focus on new applications as well as actually putting in place the streamlined systems that Government has paid for in recent years. If staff don’t want to use those new and efficient systems, fire them.
While you’re at it MITCH!! You need to investigate those Spanish, Guyanese, vincy, Haitian, jamdown who are here on work permit exemption and not working and without a work permit working in the BVI illegally.. Start with long bush, free bottom, long look, VG, Anegada, Purcell, Main Street, Prospect Reef.
We are losing our young nurses to the US because they are being told they have nothing for them here. Please look into this.
The nurses leaving because of the pi** poor salaries the hospital paying them. The Dr’s and nurses are leaving in droves. Ask anybody working in the hospital.
Some easy wins routinely rejected. The three year permit term already in law. Why that has not been used even for selected positions and particularly after Irma when we needed to show money still coming in, is ridiculous.
The systems thing we can look at other small nationals and copy the best bits while looking at what we need for the future. But just like all other procurement (quarantine armbands, power 52) the work goes to those without the expertise, the right product, the financial resources to get the job done. And we all know why they were selected.
The ten year belongership has caused noise but the country already needs to grow and retain talent. We’re talking about a very small number of people ( some don’t even want it) who would take it up and they are the people who have made a life decision to stay with, support, rebuild and promote the VI through devastating hurricanes and Covid. Hardly the act of a hoard of mercenaries as they are being portrayed. Let this batch in automatically, pay their fees, and they will also, as happened in cayman invest even more in their lives here which creates jobs and grows the local economy.
With these two things, labour and immigration would have far more time freed up for tackling the more difficult matters they have before them and we would have a much better information set to feed to government in terms of what workforce we need to produce locally through our education and training systems – although we also need to keep an eye on what is not here: fintech is a world with distributed workforce and no borders. Ideal for us to take advantage of but we are then also competing internationally and need the education in place to do this.
that old c—k driving about in the government vehicle needs to be investigated
The Premier need to give Mitch Immigration Port Folio since he ain’t getting it handle. Mitch will make the needed changes. Mitch have made me into a believer. I love Pepe that go into a job that try to make a positive difference and Mitch is doing just that ..Great!
Not true!
I left recently and thank God I did. And no I would not return to the BVI to live or work.
I have family there so I will visit them but that’s that. It’s a shame that such a lovely country has so many negative people. I have met some lovely BVIlanders who are also wise and don’t have time to engage in this “baarn ya” crap. Every country may have people who are unwelcoming but BVI is on a next level. It’s like they train from young to be this way. And to think they too run to other countries, but thats a next subject on its own…This is so sad for a nation. May God keep you from his wrath.
The reality is the BVI’s current labour policy is not fit for purpose. In this day and age there is nooo reason that the process should take so long or that persons should have to sit and wait for hours at both labour and immigration. The application process should be entirely online – passport should be dropped off and then workers should be given a specific collection time and date (if there is a need to verify the person is in residence). This doesn’t require huge changes, it can be a simple email system. Don’t understand why it is taking so long to implement.
we can see why everyday
@The Watchdog
She was the bottleneck – good riddance.
@ check t p
Have you had your eyes checked lately?
Age can bring on nearsightedness.
Better yet, issue 3 – 5 year permits depending on if the Applicant is applying to fill a skilled or unskilled position. That would relieve the high number of Renewal Applications the current Annuals are driving.
It’s simple. They are not held by locals because, sometime in the 70s and 80s, our economy expanded so rapidly that the local workforce simply couldn’t keep up with the demand. In other words, there was a surplus of jobs available thanks to the hotel sector and related industries, including construction, taking off as well as offshore finance. Up to the late 70s, the total population of the BVI had hovered at around 12,000 with a working age population of about 4,000. From there the economy has continued to grow in leaps and bounds and the local birthrate just cannot keep up, hence the need to import labour continuously.
This is why when you hear people say “oh, let’s do this, it will create jobs’ you can understand that they don’t mean jobs for locals, they mean jobs for expats and opportunities for themselves. Countries with high unemployment are the countries that need to keep thinking of creating jobs. The BVI’s unemployment rate is negligible so we should really be thinking of smarter economy and green economy and stop focusing on creating low-wage jobs.
Incorrect. The unemployment rate is below 1% so that shows that local people are working. You and those like you need to stop with that tired narrative about locals not wanting to work and are pushing drugs. The exceptions don’t make the rule. What is needed is to stop letting every tom dick and jane come to the country and open a business that isn’t green and that isn’t smart. There’s no point to that and it just creates this deep well of need to keep importing more and more labour.
I’m with you on that as I’m in the same boat as you. I still waiting over a year for my complaint to be dealt with but I know it will never get dealt with. I tired call & visit their office in Road Town as its a waste of time. Every time I visit their office, the person never in office for you to see (what are they getting paid for really?)From the head of Labour right down need cleaning up as they favor who they want. Customer training is required for them also, as some of them are not friendly at all, you ask a question & they answer you like a hog with their faces makeup like weather coming.Too much going on in that department where unfairness is surfacing all the times. We never fairness for everyone not just for some people, so do what you have to do sir.
The reason the 3 year permit isn’t being used is because you have to pay upfront for the 3 years and there is no refund if for any reason the person doesn’t stay. It’s available as confirmed by the minister in a public meeting but companies don’t want to take on that level of risk.
Next thing that needs to change is charging persons for extensions when their permit is not ready. Why are the people being made for the deficiencies in the system? That is just wrong. Some people being charged for 2 plus extensions because it is taking months to process a renewal. Where is the morality in that?