MINISTER of Investment, Industry and Commerce Senator Aubyn Hill is considering designing a skills exchange programme to supply Guyana’s labour market (which is suffering a deficit of over one million workers) with short-term, technically skilled personnel. He outlined the plan following a trade visit to Guyana last month.

Local members of the construction trade want the same approach to be taken to the industry which has experienced high levels of growth as the Government of Jamaica targets infrastructure development as one plank of economic development.

Lenworth Kelly, president of the Incorporated Master Builders of Association of Jamaica (IMAJ), told the Jamaica Observer this week, “Let’s put it this way… Construction has been high in the past two years. When there is sudden growth in a sector you would not have enough opportunity to respond in the medium term. A lot of the growth is spurred by Government spending on infrastructure, which in turn attracts housing developments.”

Additional demands come from hotels under construction and are slated to intensify as residential and commercial construction on Bernard Lodge Lands in St Catherine begin in the next four years.

Some developers are keeping quiet on a growing shortage of skilled labour, fearing higher wage demands if labour is imported or becomes more competitive, a construction financing source said, but not all are prepared to suffer silently, while still others take it in stride.

Errol Lamey, a sixty-year-old building contractor who works in Montego Bay, St James, complained good-naturedly to the Business Observer, “All the time I have to be training and as you train them, they are gone. They are always looking for greener pastures. When you train a mason or a carpenter they begin to sell themselves — and they do get jobs because of the work they can do. As I get a contract, I train more people.”

Islandwide, the Real Estate Development Board (REB) in Jamaica notes a continued increase in the number of schemes in planning and approved for development across the island.

Construction remains one of the strongest sectors under pandemic and post-pandemic conditions. For the full year 2021, 92 building projects were approved, consisting of developments on 2,226 lots. The number of housing units represented were 2,834. Overall there were eight more schemes in 2021 than the year before and 609 more units.

Underskilled

Devon Sterling, CEO of Selogen Limited, an engineering and real estate development company which is currently developing Hellshire Green, a 69-unit development in Hellshire, St Catherine, asserts, “There is a shortage of good workers in the construction field.

“There are adequate numbers of persons who say they are skilled but when put to the test, [they] are not. Most of them have assisted a mason or steel fixer, etc, on their last job and believe they can do the work and assume the title of the tradesman [but are often found wanting].”

He indicates, “The problem persists across all trades as currently we have a lot of construction activity but we have not increased our skilled labour force to match it. As a consequence, good trades persons are always busy and are constantly headhunted.”

Sterling says that the solution, unfortunately, has to be a long term one and it involves a necessary shift in culture. “Over time we have adopted a culture that looks down on people interested in vocational training — hands-on work was considered beneath you. [The same applies to farming] and so we have a shortage of people willing to be trained in these fields.

“The old method of apprenticeship is not successful, primarily because youth are not trained to have respect for elders or the advice they give. So, it becomes a case of making it sexy again.”

Rising to the challenge, Sterling says he has dealt with the shortage by “taking on willing people and pairing them with some of my more seasoned trades persons. I get maybe a 40 per cent success rate, but it is better than nothing.”

He however admits, “The next challenge is retaining them as they become trained. I offer quality and performance incentives and punitive action for behaviour unbecoming (lateness, attire, conduct etc.) It is very tiring but it is the only way to create teams that I can count on. I call them mi pickney dem.

“There are a lot of unskilled, unemployed persons out there. The few with abilities are drawn to scamming. Note that I said good workers are hard to find. The diligence and skills currently displayed by Chinese and South American trades persons are such that I would employ them over the majority of the local workforce that I encounter. But, we have to build up our own or we all go down. I try with the few teams I have but it will not be tenable as I scale up in the future.”

Problem of pay

Contractor Errol Lamey is convinced that the problem is the result of wages which have not kept pace with the needs of workers, many of whom are enterprising enough to find more rewarding alternatives.

“As far as I am concerned there is no labour shortage in Jamaica. That is what I know as a fact. We can find 1000 masons at every given time but they are not interested. As soon as they have some money they move on to operating taxies, farming, and JUTA. The trade work money is cheap.” Lamey said as well that working conditions for construction workers has declined since the 1980s. “The benefits they used to have have come down; there used to be laundry and other allowances.”

“Now they [developers] give a contract and dictate a minimum amount of funding. If you as the contractor do not stand up strong you can’t even have food to eat.

“The Government does not defend construction anymore so those people who can find better arrangements, do so. I see men on the streets digging out their hand in the middle who tell me ‘I am not working for that.’

“That is the problem we have. Each time we train someone else, they move on. They [society] treat construction workers as if they are nothing [and yet] construction is at the base of every industry. Workers say when they see the big buildings they watch them make billions while the same man who built it can hardly buy nappies [diapers] and shoes. They are disgruntled over treatment that the Government gives.

“First time, every February the Government increased the benefits for industry; now there is nothing. And they allowed the Spanish to come in and dictate new terms, which are a free for all. I train my workers — even in engineering — but they turn their backs. We have a problem. The Government is not developing industries such that people are encouraged to perform.”

Lamey noted, “Many workers are running away to work in Canada and the UK. I have been called [to work abroad] also but I did two heart surgeries and it is best to remain in my country. Jamaica is a very nice place but with very cruel leaders who don’t know how to build for the benefit of people. As a young person I felt so good when I built a dresser or a chair. Now, the young people see it as a waste of time.”

Government plan

IMAJ President Lenworth Kelly said he believed more planning should go into supporting the labour needs of the construction industry.

“Construction projects do not happen overnight and can last three years. The Government knows what is likely to happen, for example if a big hotel of 10,000 rooms is coming, training institutions can be procured to train workers. They should direct HEART [the national training body] to train according to opportunities so we can be prepared. We need to be proactive.”

Kelly explained that labour shortages in construction are often localised as well, and opined contractors should think of tapping plumbers and other tradesmen from parishes where these skilled workers may be unemployed or doing farming while they await projects as all they need is to be housed. “There will always be localised shortage, and then when workers stop there is a glut. It is just a matter of providing lodging for the life of the project,” he suggested.

Kelly noted, “Some workers have left trade and gone into taxis, especially during the COVID contraction. I encourage developers to widen [their] network to find resources, and use networks in other parishes. The nature of construction is not constant — there is a fixed start and end date so workers will move on. An information network must be built.”

The president said, “We have discussed with HEART the development of a database [of workers, but many of these workers did not come through HEART. The contractor network has to be tapped.”

Kelly noted meanwhile, “We have been talking about this shortage for years. We need to address it.” The IMAJ head admitted as well that project managers should consider a liveable wage for workers.

“There is also the matter of paying good wages. There are some who operate here and they do not want to pay workers liveable wages. Through the IMAJ we come up with what we think are fair wages so workers can live. If they fail to pay fair wages then they will discover there is no one to work. We have a wage schedule in the labour management agreement which is concluded with the unions. The chief unions representing the industry are the NWU and the BITU.

“The base are unskilled workers who are paid $3,500 per day. Others are paid by rates, not by the day. There are also different grades of workers who are paid differently. The current agreement ends on January 31, 2023. We have been negotiating with the unions for a new one.”