Hotel redevelopment attracts workers from 19 countries
Workers from 19 countries, including three Caricom nations, have been hired for the multimillion-dollar redevelopment of the Fairmont Southampton since the project began.
A list of their countries of origin/citizenship was disclosed under the public access to information process by the Department of Immigration, along with the total number of new work permits issued for the project, which was 419 by April 30.
The 419 figure compares with the 242 Bermudians, spouses of Bermudians and permanent residents said by Cabinet Office minister Diallo Rabain to have worked on the project as of October last year.
The Caricom nations on the list were Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, while the other countries were Portugal, including the Azores, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United States and Venezuela.
The Pati disclosure showed that 327 of the new work permits were standard, 74 were short-term and 18 were “representative”, which is understood to be for individuals making multiple short visits to the island.
The permits fell under one of 19 job categories including carpentry, demolition, plumbing, project management and IT/technology.
Mr Rabain said in November that 641 people had worked on the redevelopment as of the previous month, including 242 Bermudians, spouses of Bermudians and permanent residents, 324 new standard work-permit holders and 59 existing work-permit holders already employed with contractors assigned to the project.
Mr Rabain said that the redevelopment was expected to generate $1.4 billion in economic impact and had “created genuine activity and real opportunities for Bermudians”.
He estimated the hotel would employ nearly 700 people. Ahead of it reopening this year, work-permit restrictions for bartenders and room attendants have been relaxed.
The immigration department’s Pati disclosure included a list of the contractors to have requested work permits for the redevelopment project, though not a breakdown of how many were issued per company.
The list included Island Construction Services, one of Bermuda’s biggest building firms, which is owned by Zane DeSilva, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Housing and Municipalities.
The immigration department did not disclose how many work permits for the redevelopment were active.
Danette Ming, the Chief Immigration Officer, wrote that it would be too time-consuming to manually collate that data.
“This information is not readily accessible,” her letter to The Royal Gazette said. “Given the varying types and duration of work permits issued and the subcontractors enlisted for the project, some workers would have completed their job requirements and departed Bermuda.”
Dr Ming added: “We checked with Fairmont and they did not track this information.”
• To view the Pati disclosure, see Related Media
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