Help Wanted

I keep hearing from my friends in retail and my friends at the hotels that they are very short-staffed, with all the dire implications of not being able to provide timely, quality service, in almost every sector of the market.

No housekeepers, no cooks, no sales associates, and if you get people with a decent resume, they are the kind that doesn’t give a hoot, AND they don’t really WANT to work hard!

My friends wonder where all the extra hands will come from, especially in view of all the condos/stores/restaurants under constructions preparing to imminently open.

On the other hand, my sources at the airport tell me that yesterday on COPA 505 departing at 13:14pm, nine Venezuelan nationals were deported, via Panama. I also heard two of them had filed for political asylum and/or political refugee status, and were granted a stay.

Of course, we do not know, because the process is not transparent.

I also understand that COPA denied them access on April 9th, but for reasons unknown to me their departure on the 11th was authorized.

Incidentally, I will also be posting the a-la-first-grade letter they are presented with, by which they promise Immigration to be good, and not offer any resistance to the deportation.

But that is not what I am saying today.

What I am suggesting is perhaps yanking our heads out of the sand, and taking inventory of what we have on hand.

We have an unknown number of illegals/somewhat-legal cooped up the island. They are trapped, the border is closed. They can’t leave, they can’t stay.

They have no access to health care, and/or social support, they exist in limbo. There might be some worthy professionals among them that can be put to work here, if given some kind of documentation, outlined in treaties, ratified by Aruba.

I am not advocating the blind opening of doors; I am advocating a careful inventory.

It will have a positive effect on our tight-labor market, and it will alleviate the immense pressure of being nobody, jobless, homeless and orphaned. From a humanitarian point of view, it is the right thing to do.

It will also crack down on petit theft, break-ins, and drama. Make One Happy Island even happier.

Share on:

April 12, 2019
Rona Coster