WASHINGTON, DC, United States — Mayor of the city of Mackinac Island in Michigan Margaret Dodd, has praised Jamaican hotel workers for their valuable contribution to the success of her city’s hospitality industry.

The mayor also lauded the Jamaican Government for maintaining the US Hotel Worker Programme for over 76 years.

“I want to applaud the Government and you, Minister Shahine Robinson for the excellent workers you have been sending to the various hotels in my city over the past 35 years. The Jamaican workers are very important to this island and the city, especially to the business community,” Mayor Dodd declared.

She was addressing a meeting of hotel employers hosted by Minister of Labour and Social Security Shahine Robinson at Mackinac Island City Hall on July 18, a recent release said.

Mayor Dodd pointed out that Jamaican workers were essential to the operation of the tourist industry on the island, and that her city would find it difficult to operate without them.

The mayor emphasised that there was an urgent need for the US to look at expanding the programme to satisfy quotas.

“I am very concerned that the programme should keep going, as I would like to see it continue. We should come up [with] an easier way to get workers from Jamaica. Over the years, it has been extremely difficult to attract workers in the numbers that hotels require. This creates a hardship on hotel operators, since they are not able to open on time, which subsequently impacts on their bottom line.

“If we can cross this major hurdle, it will help to alleviate the worker shortage problem, and make it better for the hotel industry and the workers who look forward to being employed through the programme,” she said.

Minister Robinson in her remarks, said that her ministry was in talks with US authorities with a view to expanding the programme, because of the high demand for Jamaican workers in US hotels.

She added that more than 475 Jamaican workers account for 50 per cent of the hospitality labour force in Traverse city, Mackinaw city and Mackinac island. She further pointed out the Jamaican Government views the programme as vital to the Jamaican economy, as well as to the Jamaican workers and US employers.

The Jamaican labour minister was on her first official visit to Michigan to get a first-hand view of how the US Hotel Worker Programme was working, and to reconnect with US legislators, employers and workers in an effort to grow the programme and expand services.

The minister and her delegation toured properties like the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa, Best Western Plus Dockside Waterfront Inn, Grand Hotel on Mackinac Resort, as well as met with employers and the more than 475 Jamaican hotel workers.

On the tour, the minister was accompanied by Collette Roberts Risden, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security; Beatrice Rhoden, advisor to the minister; Lorraine Young, administrator in the Overseas Works Programme; Methilina Scarlett-Jones, chief liaison officer for the Jamaica Central Labour Organization (JCLO), based in Washington DC; and Gladston Moore, JCLO liaison officer for Michigan.