Gov to Cushion Tourism Layoffs

Deputy Prime Minister Wilmoth Daniel is of the view that statutory bodies should play a major role in the government's rehabilitation programme.

"I believe that if the government is paying Social Security, then there should be extra money from the organization, as a non-employment benefit to temporarily assist laid off workers until they are provided with an alternative option of another job," he said.

With the world economic crisis delivering a major blow to the country's tourism sector, so far over 1,000 workers have been laid off after sharp decreases in stay-over tourist arrivals.

Daniel said the government would do what is necessary to assist those in need, noting that in larger countries, assistance programmes have been initiated, and been proved to be beneficial.

Meanwhile, one recently laid off worker in the tourism industry said, "I have been in the hotel industry for 25 years, and never have I seen a season so bad. It is stifling everyone. First they put you on two or three days, then you know layoff is coming."

Madella Ford, the mother of seven children ranging from 20 to six, said, "The hotel money is what built my house and put my three older children through secondary school, without a father."

She and her family are now surviving off her savings, as she searches for a new job.

"The government needs to do something quick to come out and assist all those who have been laid off," Ford said. "I live in the community of All Saints, and over the past months, I see fellow villagers have also been laid off."

Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Harold Lovell said the United Progressive Party and the Ministry of Social Transformation would be putting a number of initiatives in place to ensure that food is kept on the tables of the unemployed.
Among them, he said the government would implement a programme where individuals who had lost their jobs within the tourism industry would receive a stipend of $250, among other provisons.

Although the funds were not allocated in the 2009 budget for the Unemployment Benefit Programme, Minister of Finance Dr Errol Cort says the $81 M loan that was acquired to buffer the budget could be used to carry out such programmes.
"We have to do what is necessary for the people and to continue to put plans in place to ensure their continued survival," Dr Cort said.

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