MONTEGO BAY, St James — As the tourism ministry moves ahead with a review of labour market arrangements within the sector, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Clifton Reader is hoping an apprenticeship programme will be a part of the way forward.

According to Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, one of the major tasks given to a special task force set up in April is “to look at the employment situation as it relates to the recovery, and particularly the economic impact of the recovery”.

The task force is chaired by Professor Lloyd Waller, executive director of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC). Housed at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, the GTRCMC emerged as a direct response to the novel coronavirus that disrupted global economies, particularly the tourism sector.

“They’re now having their first set of meetings. It is important to know that so that the workers and everybody can have a sense that there is attention that is being paid to their situation,” Bartlett said of the task force. He was speaking with journalists, on June 4, on the sidelines of a welcome ceremony for an inaugural American Airlines flight from Austin, Texas.

Concerns about a shortage of skilled workers have been a steady refrain as the local and international tourism sectors recover from the pandemic. Jamaica still needs thousands of workers after many moved on to other careers or jobs overseas.

The JHTA’s Reader, who has been among those expressing concern about the labour shortage, is pushing ahead with steps to get an apprenticeship programme at Moon Palace, Jamaica, where he is the general manager.

“We are working now with the Ministry of Labour to see if I can meet with the minister to see how we can bring in people… on an apprentice programme. My hotel, in particular, is prepared right now to sponsor up to 50 of those people from Ocho Rios High and from Marcus Garvey [High] to… put them on a three-month training programme. I will pay them and, under the proper working conditions, just carry them through the system. So when I want line employees they are there already,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday.

“We are short on employees now; yet in the United States you can work at 14, whether packing shelves or whatever. In Jamaica, you have to work at 18. So, you have 16-18-year-old people who leave all-age school or whatever with no intention of going to high school or to go to university. They just want to work and it’s illegal to have them work,” the JHTA head stated.

He said his recent participation in an International Labour Organization (ILO) conference in Geneva brought into focus the need to look at how the local labour market operates within the tourism sector. He is heartened by discussions that have been taking place locally.

“The JEF (Jamaica Employers Federation), employers and unions are going to group together shortly to do a presentation on the whole labour market, how to deal with salaries, working conditions, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), the whole works. I think we need to bring these things now to the fore and address them in a holistic way because the employees make our companies and if you don’t treat them well, how you going to have a company,” he said.

“Discussions have to take place and, as I said, I want to be part of a tripartite discussion which I know JEF, in particular, is putting together based on the discussions from ILO… We have to relook at labour, how to engage labour. Some of the legal frameworks that we have in place now need to change so that employment can be more flexible,” Reader said.