SHTA blasts immigration and
work permit policies, processes
PHILIPSBURG--The current immigration policy is “so cumbersome and not properly regulated” that it “benefits no one,” St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) board said in response to squabbling between Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards and Labour Commissioner Louie Laveist.
SHTA said inconsistencies within government departments on the level of unemployment in St. Maarten had led to reactionary policies aiming to control the growing number of undocumented workers on the island.
The Central Bureau of Statistics reported unemployment at 17.5 per cent while Laveist claimed it was three per cent. This has sparked controversy on how to best manage the local labour market. The Immigration Department and Justice Minister David Dick have also been caught up in the debate on how best to manage the undocumented labour market.
In the past, grace periods were given, immigration raids were executed and moratoriums on certain work permits were introduced: all with the same goal of controlling the immigration of labour and benefiting the local workers.
According to SHTA’s board, these actions have been treating the symptoms instead of dealing with the problem.
“There is a lot of development on the island, requiring an influx of workers in the construction sector, the marine sector, the hospitality sector and the business sector in order to meet the demand of the growing economy. The local labour market cannot keep up with the leaps and bounds in the growth of the economy. The Tourism Master Plan even discouraged the development of accommodations in the short to medium term due to concerns of over supply.”
Businesses are suffering from lack of staff or are forced to act illegally by employing undocumented workers, the association said. “The gap between micro-managing the labour market and the demand of the growth of the industry is gigantic. The undocumented workers are stuck in the middle. Without revamping the current documentation process, making it simpler, quicker and easier, the problem will continue to escalate and treating the symptoms just won’t be enough.”
The board added, “A choice has to be made. Either the growth of the economy needs to be slowed until the local labour market has caught up, which to a certain extent has been tried in Anguilla, or the documentation process of foreign workers needs to be streamlined to eliminate the large number of undocumented persons.
“In addition, procedures need to be developed to allow fast track processing for high season expansion of staff levels for the hospitality, marine and other sectors.”
Contending that to date the conscious choice of the island had been for growth, the SHTA board said, “This needs to be met with the commitment of a facilitated documentation process to ensure that employees who are brought in from abroad are documented quickly and easily, so that the Immigration Department can indeed deport anyone who is not documented or for whom no request is pending.”
It continued: “Furthermore, the chance that the employer of a documented employee withholds and pays tax and social security is significantly higher than for an undocumented employee. …
“The social burden of an undocumented person is tremendous, as is that of their children, to the point that their human rights are being violated. Children are denied access to government schools, access to health care is often limited, and the ‘illegals’ can be rounded up like cattle and be deported at any time.”
Further, the benefit to the local population is also non-existent, as it is not entering the job market due to lack of certifiable skills or certification, which the island government is doing little to rectify, the board said. There aren’t any technical or hospitality schools to cater to the island’s only industry of tourism, and this needs to be remedied.
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