Govt pushing labour mobility in Guyana to address shortages – VP Jagdeo

…says cautiously allowing labour importation

The demand for labour locally has been growing exponentially as Guyana continues to undergo unprecedented transformation, and according to Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, government is trying to promote labour mobility within the country to address this shortage.
“We’ve spoken to a lot of the contractors here and we’re saying ‘can’t you build facilities to keep them;’ like if someone comes from Berbice or Linden or Essequibo or Region One so that they have decent accommodation here and then maybe on the weekend, they go back [home]. So, we’re trying to work through that problem to try to see if we can promote greater labour mobility,” he said during a press conference on Thursday.
The Vice President’s remarks come on the heels of a push by some sectors to import labour. But Jagdeo noted that while government is allowing foreign workers to come in for certain projects, this is not being done at a scale that will disenfranchise Guyanese.
“There are a large number of people who are trying to bring in labourers. We’ve been very cautious in giving large scale permits. They have to demonstrate a need and they have to now show that the project would be adversely affected before we give the permission,” he stressed.
Some of the large-scale projects that have been given permission to import labour are the India-funded Ogle, East Coast Demerara, to Eccles (East Bank Demerara) Bypass Road project and the new Demerara River Bridge project that is being undertaken by a Chinese contractor – China Railway and Construction Corporation (CRCC) Limited.
“We know the demand is still growing and [so we’re] allowing selective projects to bring in their labour like the road projects. They’re complaining that they have a timeline to deliver the road – the Indian company or the Chinese company on the bridge… they bring in labourers to work on those projects,” Jagdeo stated.
Guyana Times understands that CRCC brought in Bangladeshi workers who had built the FIFA World Cup stadiums in Qatar last year. Since India is financing the bypass road, there is a stipulation that a certain per cent of Indians are contracted to workers on the project.

Skilled labour
However, the Vice President said that while there are labour shortages for certain skill types in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), this may not be the case in the other regions hence the government’s cautiousness in allowing the importation of workers.
According to Jagdeo, finding skilled labourers in areas such as plumbing, carpentry, masonry and drivers especially heavy-duty operators in Region Four is a difficult task for many contractors.
“The situation is not the same in other regions of the country. So, we don’t want to allow a large number to come here when our own people in other parts of the country still maybe looking for a job. But because they don’t have the same level of economic activities in those regions, then they can’t find one as yet,” he stated.
On this note, the VP posited that Government is trying to expand the local supply of labour through aggressive training programmes through the GOAL scholarships and BIT training as well as with the massive training school that is being established at Port Mourant in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne). He added that these efforts are further bolstered with the parttime jobs initiative, which is not only a means for persons to earn an income but also an opportunity for them to get job training.
“We’re focused on training people… We’re trying also to bring women into the work force. We think the parttime job is a stepping stone for many women. Urban women tend to be working more but a lot rural women have not been working. All of them were home-makers or just simply at home. And therefore, the parttime job is a good stepping stone for them to have an income, start coming out to work even for a few days and then of course, to study [or get training],” he noted.
GRA staff woes
However, these staffing woes are not only affecting the private sector. Only recently, Commissioner General of the state-run Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Godfrey Statia, complained of having to grapple with staff shortages in key units relating to the petroleum sector within the agency, forcing them to outsource technical people. He also highlighted that GRA staff are being lured away with lucrative offers from oil companies, in some cases, with salaries higher that his own.
In response, VP Jagdeo pointed out the Taxation body needs to highlight specific areas where technical support is needed and government will intervene.
“They have to demonstrate a need and a very specific need… If the Commissioner General goes to the Minister of Finance and say ‘my work is being affected because I don’t have skilled Guyanese and I need three persons of a skilled nature,’ if we can’t find them here then we’ll have to bring them in but it has to be specific,” Jagdeo noted.
He went onto note that government is losing staff from various state agencies to not only oil and gas companies but also other areas in the private sector as well. However, he said while this situation is concerning, at the same time government is also pulling staff from the private sector.
According to the Vice President, persons now have more job mobility and are no longer stuck at the same place for years.
“You can’t keep people in bondage [at workplaces] … You’re gonna continue to have [job] mobility. There is no position in the government where we can restrict that and its hard to outcompete the alternate, and it’s a right that citizens to have. There was a time when people felt that they had no option but to stick with one job for life. People know find [they] can do better in another place and they move on,” Jagdeo said. (G8)