At the Government press conference held on June 21st, the Honourable Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Kenneth Hodge, announced that he had received the first draft of the labour understudy policy — which should be ultimately made law in short order.
The labour understudy policy will make provision for qualified natives and belongers of Anguilla to be properly trained by expatriate employees who are working primarily in the hospitality sector. The aim is that the Anguillian attached to the understudy programme would eventually be capable of taking over from the expatriate professional.
The Minister stated: “I wish to thank the Department of Labour for the very hard work which they have put into the drafting of the understudy policy. We will be examining this policy together, and refining it, and within three to four weeks it will be ready for public perusal.”
He went on: “I am very excited by this policy, because it finally puts teeth to our argument of strengthening our local labour force, and it will ensure that our locals have a meaningful part to play in the development of the hospitality sector.”
Speaking on the issue of mandatory vaccinations for work permits, Minister Hodge noted: “Recently we have been getting much feedback from the hospitality sector regarding the fact that incoming visitors who are fully vaccinated are beginning to inquire whether the workers who are rendering them service are themselves vaccinated. This is an issue that we now find ourselves grappling with.”
“He went on: “One would recall that Government has been very sensitive to what people have been saying about mandatory vaccinations. Government has been exploring the possibilities of mandatory vaccinations in both the public and private sectors. At this point, we have not advanced to that stage. This was basically due to the encouraging signs of the number of persons who were indeed going out to take their doses.
“However, the reality remains that if we are not careful, our hospitality sector, in particular, can be overrun. Consequently, we have taken steps to put in place mandatory vaccination requirements for work permit holders.”
He went on to say that the industry itself is requiring that all persons who are serving guests must be vaccinated. He noted that it would be unfair to allow this anomaly to continue, where we expect our guests, as visitors, to be vaccinated, but those persons who are serving them are not vaccinated.
Speaking to The Anguillian after the press conference, the Minister said that while there was no law to mandate vaccinations across the board, he encouraged all persons dealing with visiting guests to take the vaccination while there is still time, and while supplies last, seeing that the doses in stock would soon expire.
Finally, Minister Hodge addressed the matter of the minimum wage. He stated: “We are now making some progress on the minimum wage. We are in the process of establishing a committee. In the next two weeks or so, we will announce the composition of the Minimum Wage Committee.
“The issue of the minimum wage has been dealt with by previous administrations without any resolution,” he observed. “There have been reports written and presented, but they have not really gotten anywhere. This time we are going at it with more determination. This administration is determined that we will get this process completed within this term.”
– Staff Reporter, James R. Harrigan
