We all remember the incident which embarrassed the previous government of Barbados when fourteen Indian workers were allowed to work on the new Kensington Oval without work permits. It has been one of the great embarrassments which came out of the Cricket World Cup project. There was also the other incident which occurred at the Four Seasons construction site where Chinese labour was allowed to work before their work permits were processed. In both cases the immigration department of Barbados was heavily criticized for the lack of leadership. The BU household continues to hold the view that the Immigration Department allowed itself to be unduly influenced by the government of the day. To this day we are not aware of any disciplinary measures which were taken as a result of the two incidents.
The memory of the two gaffes by the Immigration Department continues to highlight the open door immigration policy of Barbados. Some BU family members have labeled us xenophobic simply because we continue to highlight the large numbers of people who are being allowed to enter Barbados. Of concern to us is the possible social fall-out by not having a planned immigration strategy towards managing the very visible ethnic population which has grown at a fast rate within the last ten years in Barbados.
It is against this background that we quote well placed sources which has identified questionable immigration and labour practices at a leading Italian restaurant on the West Coast of Barbados.
It is our understanding that a well established Italian restaurant on the West Coast of Barbados has been employing Italians who enter Barbados as visitors to work as hostesses, bar staff, chefs and managers. The simple ploy used is for the visiting Italians to leave for one of the neighbouring islands when their visitor permits are about to expire. When the Italians return to Barbados they are given additional time to remain on island. Two ‘Italian employees’ have been granted their fifth extension for the year so far. It appears that many of the Italian restaurants in Barbados circumvent the work permit requirement using this simple approach.
The troubling matter about what we have reported is the role of the Immigration Department in this affair. How wide spread is this issue of illegal labour in the established businesses across Barbados? We have tended to focus on the construction industry, domestic help and prostitution but what about the ‘well-respected’ establishments which have been able to co-op the local officials to play the game? Note that we stated co-op and not corrupt!
If a game is being played who are the individuals winning? We urge our hardworking and no-nonsense Minister Maxine McClean who is responsible for immigration matters to investigate this matter with haste.
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