Were we naïve to believe that hotel development in
Could someone tell me who is advertising these jobs in
The employment agency in question is Skyworld Business Merger Inc. Who is Skyworld? Who is it working for?
Did I repeatedly hear our government representatives assure us that the jobs of bartenders, bookkeepers, chefs, truck drivers, kitchen helpers, maintenance men, sales coordinators, housekeepers, sales staff, and waiters and waitresses, would be reserved for Anguillians? I thought that in future, only nuclear physicists and neural surgeons would be permitted to be brought in from overseas. I thought relatively unskilled jobs were absolutely reserved for all the youngsters coming out of school. Not to mention all the experienced hotel workers laid off by the half-full hotels, or made to work three days a week.
Note the numbers of positions offered in this one advertisement: room attendants, 20. Bartenders, 20. Bookkeepers, 5. Chefs, 25. Truckdrivers, 10. Kitchen helpers, 20. Maintenance men, 15. Sales coordinators, 10. Housekeeping staff, 15. Sales staff, 10. Waiters and waitresses, 30. I make that a total of 180 jobs on offer.
Does anyone remember the Chief Minister’s words at the groundbreaking ceremony for Viceroy? He said then, “We agreed to this project because we believe we have an obligation to find the wherewithal for all Anguillians to find something to do. . . . We will prepare the country for the youth of tomorrow and this is why we went ahead to agree for this project.”
Is this Philippine advertisement evidence of a sell out? If so, who has approved it?
Or, does Anguilla now enjoy such full employment that there is a desperate need to bring all these Asian workers to Anguilla?
Referring to the foreign workers, particularly the Indians brought in by the company and given work permits by the Government, Mr. Fleming said there was a need to have the project completed quickly. “The Government of Anguilla is committed to ensuring that this project is finished. It is no use waiting to have it being built in the next six or seven years. When it is built, we will know that we have somewhere to send our children to work.” --"The Anguillian"
ReplyDeleteHi Don,
ReplyDeleteOn the Skyworld Business Merger, Inc website they list the comnies they are working th under the "clients" section. Under "Caribbean Islands" they list: World Art and Antques (Nic Douglas), Cap Juluca, Ashley's, Paradise Cove, Lake's Do It Best and Hughes Medical Centre. I'm no fan of Viceroy, and I have little doubt that they are probably trying to ride the Pinoy train, but they are not (yet) listed as a client.
Perhaps you could write to the company and ind out who the current client is?
The problem is simply: hotel developers are too cheap to pay the going wage in Anguilla for either construction workers or hotel employees. They will promise the government anything, but when it comes right down to it, they do whatever they want AND THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS LOOK THE OTHER WAY. Don't know who is getting kickbacks & bribes, but they are doing a major disservice to the people of Anguilla. I looked at the website for that employment service. They are seeking to alleviate the high unemployment in the Phillipines. What do we do when there is high unemployment here? A lot of Anguillians are bragging about how cheap the labour is from the Chinese that got stranded here. Don't they realize that they or their children will have to one day work for those wages? The big projects always want tax benefits and special privileges (like bringing in their cheap labour). Their M.O. seems to be to promise the local government all kinds of things, then skip out leaving their "problems" behind. Anguilla is too small a country to absorb a lot of foreign workers. The "world-wide recession" that the world press keeps talking about, should be a wake-up call.
ReplyDeleteYou can find out who the Anguillian employers who take workers from Skyworld are by checking here: http://www.skyworldbusiness.com/employer.html
ReplyDeleteThe Anguillian companies whose logos are featured on the Skyworld website are:
Hughes Medical Centre
Paradise Cove Resort
Lake’s Do It Best
World Art & Antiques Gallery
Ashley & Sons
Cap Juluca
The website says this is only a select few of the employers they work for.
Is it possible that this thing is a Philippine scam, and is merely dropping names of Anguillian firms it has collected on the web? Occam's razor may apply, here. Most of those firms are too small, or too specialized, to recruit cheap labor from the other side of the planet...
ReplyDeleteIf the website says this is only a select few of the employers they work for in Anguilla, your list is meaningless.
ReplyDeleteDoes Dr. Lo need 25 chefs? Does Paradise Cove need 20 bartenders? Does Cap Juluca need 20 sales coordinators and sales staff?
If you want to post stupidness there's a next forum for that. Calm youselves, people, and think for a moment. The only place in Anguilla that could conceivably hire all these people is Viceroy. The only question is who is going to approve all these work permits and how are they going to explain it to unemployed Anguillians?
My guess is that many, if not all, of these "openings" that you found no longer exist (if they ever did). The Skyworld Business web site does not list any current job openings in Anguilla at http://www.skyworldbusiness.com/skyworld/jobopenings.html
ReplyDeleteThe POEA site where you found the list of Anguilla job orders notes that, "We cannot guarantee the availability of the job orders currently listed."
The Phillipines Government office that supervises the hiring of overseas workers approved these jobs on 18 May. The jobs may already be filled but these were real jobs in Anguilla, listed by a real, licensed, employment agency, less than two weeks ago. An employer here in Anguilla, obviously a hotel, contracted with Skyworld this month, listed these 180 jobs and agreed to pay them 180 commissions to find qualified Filipinos for these positions. They obviously expected that our Labour Department would process these 180 work permit applications and that our Ministry of Labour would approve them. These 180 job descriptions were submitted to the Philippine government office and approved on 18 May.
ReplyDeleteThese are real job offers, not a mistake and not a scam and I want to know who in Anguilla is responsible. I expect them to lie. I expect them to claim it was a "clerical error" or a "computer error" or "circumstances beyond our control" or that space aliens forced them to do it.
Somebody out there is acting like they own our government. I want to know who they are and why they think this way, because even the idea that this is possible in today's Anguilla is an insult to all Anguillians.
Why is anyone surprised about this? There are many local construction workers that are out of work right now but Viceroy has 800 Indians building their project. In fact, most of the locals who were on that job have been sent home just recently. Even the Temenos Chinese - the ones that were left back - are now working for government instead of using local workers to build a football stadium.
ReplyDeleteAs long as we continue to sit silently and not say anything about this the government will continue to allow these developers (and the exisitng hotels) to do what they want and use foreign workers who, they say, work harder for less money. Where will these foreign workers live? Will Viceroy (or any of them) pay rent to Anguillians and fill up all of these empty apartment buildings that the CM told everyone to build? Did he tell people to build these apartments becasue he knew 180 Pinoys would be coming eventually? How many Anguillians do they plan on hiring in addition to the Fiipinos? We need to stand up. Now is the time!
From tomorrow's London Times:
ReplyDeleteViceregal style in Anguilla
Gwyneth Paltrow likes Malliouhana, David Schwimmer favours Cap Juluca — but from July 1, Anguilla’s heavenly twin hotels will face new competition for the island’s A-list holidaymakers. That’s when Viceroy, the ultra-luxury American chain, launches the first phase of its 166-room resort at Meads Bay, Anguilla: three restaurants, two bars and one serious spa. Studios from £430; viceroyanguilla.com.
Skyworld is advertising the following positions in Anguilla for Filipinos to fill:
ReplyDeleteSales coordinator - 10
Chef - 25
Truck drivers - 10
Bartenders - 20
Kitchen helpers - 20
Room attendants - 20
Book keepers - 5
Housekeeping - 15
Waiter/waitress - 30
Maintenance men - 15
Sales staff - 10
Kitchen helpers - 35
Room attendants - 37
Bartenders - 40
Waiter/waitresses - 40
Chef/cooks - 24
Building electricians -23
Landscapers - 17
Plumbers - 10
Veterinarians - 5
Heavy equipment - 5
Building electricians - 1
Supervisors - 3
No one but Viceroy could use 23 electricians, 20 sales coordinators/sales staff and 20 bartenders.
One of the vet positions has been filled since early March. - he's been working at Morlans.
ReplyDeleteEmpowerment has always been the cornerstone of Anguilla's vision of national development...in fact the definining statement of this ideal was made by the Father of Anguilla's Revolution -- the Hon. James Ronald Webster when he proclaimed: "we do not want to become a nation of waiters and busboys." --Victor Banks, 26 November 2006
ReplyDeleteDon't worry wit dat, Victor. Looks like Bunton bringing in 180 Filipinos so us Anguillians won't have to wait on no tables.
I don't know why these companies and employers are asking workers to these agency (SKYWORLD MANILA),you know that some filipinos who are here in Anguilla paid these agency doble,they will asked the employer the necessary fees for an employee for hiring these people,then the person who is applying for them will pay them too the necessary placement fee at the same time that worth $4500.00 us dollar equivalent to philippine money 207,000 pesos, some of the applicant will sell there land,asked a mortgage to the bank because they want to work outside the country...poor applicants they never knew that they can work outside the country for free cause the employer will pay already the necessary fees....
ReplyDeleteThough they said that all the filipinos working here in Anguilla has a free housing is true,but the company is doing thisfor the agreement to the applicant before they came here....but after they are working here already that a year just past you how they work ,they work as COFFEE IN ONE do you ever here that...that we all know that is against the labor law,that is slavery.they should work for what they have applied for..
ReplyDeleteI agree with that! Remember last march 2009 we had a recession here in Anguilla and some of them are working in Capjuluca, they are the spanish, Filipinos & Jamaicans, they was included in recession without any REASON, the HRD said that they don't have enough money for the salary for them, but as we all know the owner of Capjuluca is a multi- millionare. The question is DO THE OWNER KNOWS WHAT THEY DID TO THOSE EMPLOYEES? or ONLY THE MANAGEMENT DECIDED THIS for the satisfaction of the GOV.
ReplyDelete