Sint Maarten – Minister of VSA, Pamela Gordon-Carty has begun taking steps to secure jobs for locals by declining work permit requests for jobs that she is certain can be filled by locals. The declined requests concern applications for carpenters, teachers and nurses.
“I urge the labor office to revisit such applications and to advertise such vacancies to allow qualified local candidates to apply for the positions.” Minister Gordon-Carty said. “In the event no applications are received from qualified local applicants, then the position may be offered to overseas applicants.”
The minister is urging unemployed locals to register at the labor office to allow them to be considered when work opportunities surface. The minister is of the opinion that “as much as we are in need of investors, we must ensure that the local market is secured and that the rights of the locals are safeguarded, like many other countries do.”
“It makes no sense to sign off on work permits requests from overseas applicants, while we have a great number of skilled locals unemployed. I do not intend to sign off on any such permits until the local unemployment is significantly reduced.” Minister Gordon-Carty said.
The minister went on to say that if we continue to give out our work to people from abroad, we will be contributing towards impoverishing our country and its people, and minimizing opportunities for our children in their land, an act she has no intensions of being part of.
