‘The whole sector is quarrelling’

WESTERN BUREAU:

Already struggling to re-engage staff after COVID-19 resulted in massive lay-offs in the local hospitality sector, local tourism interests are bracing for a fallout in employment numbers as hotel workers join a mad rush to be included among the 10,000 Jamaicans being sought to fill posts in the rebounding cruise ship industry.

The recruitment drive is being held at the behest of Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL) in response to a global worker shortage that has been affecting itineraries and on-board amenities in the industry since the full resumption of leisure travel.

Several applicants are being drafted through the constituency offices of members of parliament (MP) but in a letter to his political colleagues, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett advised that locals residing in parishes with high tourism activities and accommodations should not be considered.

“Royal Caribbean Line is offering an opportunity for suitable Jamaicans to join its staff soon … ,” reads a section of the letter, a copy of which was seen by The Sunday Gleaner. “Due to our own challenges here in Jamaica, with a shortage of workers in the tourism belt, only constituencies located away from this area have been chosen for recruitment.”

But Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) President Clifton Reader is projecting a negative impact on the local hotel sector.

“Nearly 20 per cent of the workers in our hotels on the north coast are from the south coast and some of them will be attracted by the cruise ship offer. In fact, I expect some of our workers from the north coast to also go,” he said. “A better option would have been to negotiate with the cruise liner to train unskilled workers on the south coast for this opportunity.”

Leading hotel operations have lost an entire generation of their skilled labour force to other sectors, following the economic fallout from COVID-19, which halted international travel and led to the loss of hundreds of jobs in the sector.

SECTOR’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE GDP

The sector contributed 9.8 per cent to Jamaica’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019, and promised even better numbers for the following year, with cautious projections of US$4.4 billion in revenue, but the imposition of travel-related measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus, including the closure of borders, saw the shutdown of hotel operations, affecting 170,000 direct jobs.

But while an estimated 75 per cent of the workforce has returned, the sector lost a number of its skilled workers to the more lucrative business process outsourcing sector and overseas work programmes.

“I have seven staffers who live on the south coast who have signed up,” disclosed one hotelier, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It is a big problem; the entire sector is quarrelling about this cruise ship initiative.”

Recruitment of such magnitude is normally handled by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, but Bartlett appointed Joy Roberts, executive director of Jamaica Vacations (JamVac) Limited, an agency in the tourism ministry, to marshal the process.

Roberts has not responded to several Sunday Gleaner questions sent to her more than a week ago despite acknowledging receipt. Bartlett and his technical adviser, Delano Seiveright, have also not provided responses.

But The Sunday Gleaner understands that there is discontent over Roberts’ handling of the recruitment drive, including the decision to engage Canada-based hiring agency Cast A Way instead of a Maritime Labour Convention-compliant crewing agency that will guarantee the rights of the worker at sea.

Sunday Gleaner calls and emails to Cast A Way were also not answered.

RCCL also inked agreements with Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago for roughly 2,000 workers each. The twin-island republic has since announced recruitment events in Port of Spain, San Fernando, and Tobago with Royal Caribbean personnel and their agents for this month. Applications can also be submitted through the company’s online portal. Barbadian nationals will be chosen at a national job fair to be announced soon.

Professor Trevor Munroe, principal director of the National Integrity Action, has urged Bartlett to involve the Ministry of Labour in the process amid allegations of political discrimination.

“The concern is that we do everything in our power to ensure that equity, fairness and non-discrimination guide the recruiting of the workers and that partisan politics does not contaminate the process,” Munroe said in an open letter to Bartlett last week. “I am well aware that the cruise line operators themselves set their criteria and do the recruitment. But you as minister and we Jamaicans can and do make recommendations that often involve our Ministry of Labour and seek to ensure the principle of non-discrimination in our Constitution is observed.”

He also suggested that parish ministers’ fraternal and justices of the peace on the south coast be involved in the process and to also recommend potential employees to RCCL.

Colette Roberts Risden, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, told The Sunday Gleaner that she was aware of the programme, but was still waiting to be advised of how her team would contribute to the process.

“I am sure we will play a role, but that discussion has not taken place yet,” she said.

While the Ministry of Tourism would not reveal the constituencies selected to participate in the recruitment drive, 12 of the 14 opposition MPs – with St Mary Central’s Dr Morais Guy and St Ann South Eastern’s Lisa Hanna the exceptions – have been asked to submit names for consideration.

SUPPORT

Manchester Southern MP Mikael Phillips supports the Government’s decision to target the non-tourism belt, but noted that his allotment was oversubscribed.

“We are allotted 150 [slots], but about 300 constituents have turned up at my office so far. I have accepted that we have a small economy, especially when it comes to rural Jamaica, and there are so much and no more places of employment, especially for quality workers,” the opposition MP told The Sunday Gleaner.

“We had to turn back people because we had more names than we needed, plus more people are calling,” added Phillips, who disclosed at that point of the interview his office had submitted 75 names and some of his constituents had already received calls to start the process.

Natalie Neita Garvey of St Catherine North Central, also an opposition MP, is welcoming the initiative as well, saying that it was ready-made for hundreds of her constituents, who are trained but struggling to find employment.

Fitz Jackson, the MP for St Catherine Southern, is hoping the initiative will go beyond a grand announcement.

“The truth of the matter is that many of our people have become disillusioned because of these many announcements and little happening, but I am hopeful that this will become a reality for the applicants,” Jackson said.

For Reader, who is also managing director at Moon Palace, the focus must now be on expanding the dwindling labour force to fill existing and impending vacancies as hotel room counts continue to grow with new investments in the local hospitality sector.

“We at the JHTA are looking to train our own workers because we have many school leavers out there and if we can put them in training programmes with the help of HEART [/NSTA Trust] and use our hotels as labs, then we should be able to sustain ourselves going forward,” he said.

Reader, who had earlier revealed that there was a move to get overseas help with training, said that his association will need assistance to set up additional programmes in local training institutions for hotel workers.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com