Labour Dept. must be first place where jobs are advertised- Hon. Pickering
Speaking during the budget debate in the House of Assembly on December 17, 2012 Hon. Pickering said the necessity for an Employment Unit within the Department of Labour was recognised and a survey was done to identify the number of persons seeking jobs. He said he was now happy to report that an Employment Unit has been established. “Not just in name but a physical person is in charge of that unit to be able to help those who are actively seeking work.”
Hon. Pickering emphasised that that the Department was now working on a policy which would stipulate that all jobs be firstly advertised at the Department of Labour.
“You and I know the issues surrounding that, you know how some people try to get around the system. We are working diligently to change that because we now have an employment unit within the Department of Labour.”
Less work permit issues
The Minister for Labour also reported that when he took up office just over a year ago he met a ‘myriad’ of problems relating to labour but thanks to some structural changes within the Department, most of the problems have been resolved.
“If I had ten phone calls, Madam Speaker, eight of those were related to labour...there were just a myriad of problems related to Labour...and so, Madam Speaker, we made some decisions to do some structural adjustments and to try and see what best we might be able to fix those problems that existed. A year onward now, Madam Speaker, I am happy to report that if I get ten phone calls now only one will be related to labour.”
Hon Pickering explained that the Labour Department now boasts timely issuing of work permits and that there is now a turnaround time of just under a month, “about 30 days”, for new work permits.
The renewing of work permits, he said, is being done in about 14 days. “If you are self employed and you are sorting out your own labour situation we are turning around those requests within a month.”
Emergency work permits, Hon. Pickering continued, are issued as needed and temporary work permits are basically processed from the time requests are received, “those are processed and certainly they are not taking more than three and four days to be completed.”
It was also said that the Labour Department has taken the “bold step” of doing some structural adjustment “because what we discovered is that, again, people must feel good about themselves when they come to work. The public who is being served will be better served and the service that we are rendering to the public is one that is of a high standard.”
New Labour Policy
Arising out of the series of labour meeting held across the Territory, a new Labour Policy is now in draft form and has been circulated to all members of Government, according to Hon. Pickering.
“We expect that early in 2013 the Honourable Premier [Dr the Honourable D. Orlando Smith] would be able to announce a new Labour Policy.”
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12 Responses to “Labour Dept. must be first place where jobs are advertised- Hon. Pickering”
Pico be quick
He always have ah excuse in the tick
I still see people jumping from job to job worst than grass sappe. I though Dr. said u cannot change permit you have to leave the B.V.I.