Wheatley promises Labour fix after stakeholders’ meeting tomorrow

Local businesses suffering from the ongoing bottleneck at the Labour Department have been assured of a much-needed fix after Labour Minister Vincent Wheatley meets with stakeholders tomorrow, Thursday, February 10.

The minister gave that assurance while speaking on JTV’s The Big Story recently. The minister said he was intent on hearing the perspective of all sides affected by the issues before arriving at a workable solution to the months-long saga endured by business owners, work permit holders and applicants alike.

While insisting that he was not generally a micromanager, Wheatley argued that one has to step into a micromanagement role during situations such as these. 

“My philosophy is to give the public servants a chance to develop themselves and to be independent and to mature,” Minister Wheatley said.

According to Wheatley, this independence should be one where public servants are not made to feel stifled and can grow naturally.

However, he said, “there comes a point where, if things aren’t going right, you have to intervene in a very direct way.”

Tough decisions ahead

Minister Wheatley further shared that he has had several meetings with staff members within the Labour Department over the past few weeks and has gotten an earful about issues plaguing the division.

“I want to come to the stakeholders in a frank and honest discussion. Tell me exactly what problems you’re experiencing. We’re going to explain to you exactly how we’re handling it and then we’re going to make some tough decisions after the meeting on Thursday,” he added.

Asked about the reason for the protracted delay in coming to a resolution, despite numerous public complaints over the past months, Wheatley reiterated that it was his intention to give the Labour Department staff a chance to “solve things on their own”.

“I’ve heard their stories. I know from Labour’s point of view, what they’re experiencing. I want to hear firsthand now, on a bigger platform now, what the industry’s experiences are like. Let’s have a one-on-one and I guarantee you after that meeting, things will change. Not ‘might’, things will change,” Wheatley asserted.

Tested online platform possibly not the one being used

Wheatley said he has received a myriad of complaints from the Labour Department. These include staff shortages, software licensing, application backlogs and incomplete information received from applicants.

He noted that key among those complaints were several reported issues about his government’s troublesome online application platform.

“And that too has its own stuff with it. I’m so disappointed in some of the things that I’ve heard [and] that they weren’t brought to my attention directly before,” Wheatley said of staff complaints surrounding the platform.

The Minister shared that there may have been a different platform launched publicly than the one used in the testing phase which he said he used personally and found it to have no challenges.

“I used the platform myself, it was so easy and so straightforward. So, when we launched to the public now, I couldn’t understand, well, why all of a sudden, [they experienced] all of these problems. And then somebody said, ‘well, maybe they aren’t the same two platforms’,” Wheatley explained.

He added: “I’m still not sure yet. I haven’t tried the one that they’re using now because I assume it is the same platform. But I was told it might not be the same one. I do not know for sure. We are still going through some discussions about what is really happening at the department.”