Politics.bm

Misleading on term limits

Dr. Brown is busy misleading down in the Caymans with respects to term limits:

"He disclosed that there were more concerns about the paperwork and how the proposal would be administered than the concept."

Now that is far from a true statement, and Dr. Brown knows it:

Mr. Ezekiel told The Royal Gazette: “The impact will be in the businesses here in terms of them not being able to deliver the quality of product they have been delivering simply because they can’t attract the brightest.

“Then, as you go down the road, potential new entrants to the Bermuda market see what is happening with the companies that are here and it will persuade them to consider alternative domiciles, whereas in most cases at the moment Bermuda is the domicile of choice.

“We have always said the competition is ourselves. What we are doing is ensuring that we are the leader in the field and don’t create something that causes someone to say ‘maybe this is not for us’.”

and

“The term limits policy is having a big impact on our members, one in every two work permit holders leaves Bermuda within the first two years of employment. These people tend to include those staff members who contribute to the success of their business regardless of their position within the business — they work in the engine rooms of our businesses. These people can obtain jobs anywhere and sadly we have had feedback from our members of these strong employees leaving, this reduces efficiency and increases our costs.”

Mr. Everson warned: “In an economy growing as rapidly as Bermuda this leads to an increase in inflation. Our members have devoted an enormous amount of energy and time for dialogue with Government and other stakeholders to improve work force training, education and other related matters. “We have continued to impress upon Government the responsibility they have as the largest employer in Bermuda. “If they can improve the efficiency with which they utilise labour by five percent this would have a meaningful impact, this would lead to 300 fewer work permits, 300 fewer people needing accommodation and also reducing the cost of Government to the tax payer.”