Vexed Bermoothes

After months of hinting Ewart Brown and the PLP have dropped the “Workforce Equity Act” on local businesses (copy here care of Politics.bm). By giving only two weeks for comment, they have further exacerbated the tense relations between the island’s employers and Government.

The PLP wishes to position itself as the champion of the island’s underclass who have been left behind by the recent boom years. They wish to deflect emotion and blame onto Big Business, in the hope that their own pitiful record on education and economic management is overlooked.

But this is not an “affirmative action” law which should prevent discrimination against any group by encouraging “equal opportunity” in all aspects of employment.  This is an ill-conceived racial quota that will drive a wave of costs and paper pushing, with little practical effect and many negatives.

• The reporting regime is more labor intensive than most companies have to submit to the Registrar of Companies! 
• Government can poke around a business’ records at will – moreover they can delegate this power!  This is a recipe for abuse and harrassment.
• The law requires companies to seek approval from unions and employee committees on their HR policies. 
• It’s odd that this draft Bermuda law uses American spelling.  I guess there were no Bermuda Johnnies available so Government had to outsource it.

The law seems to twistedly presume that discrimination is at work but ignores the basic facts that not enough Bermudians graduate from high school, or from accredited colleges and grad schools.  This is the crux of the matter:

“The obligation to implement employment equity does not require an employer to … hire or promote persons who do not meet the essential qualifications for the work to be performed”

What is Government doing to measure its own progress to producing qualified candidates? Does Government have any evidence that qualified Bermudians are discriminated against?   My personal experience is that international businesses are craving to hire Bermudians who can compete in the international labour market. 

This law is misguided.  It has already created damage to Bermuda’s attractiveness as a place to do business.  If enacted, it will immediately reduce Bermuda’s competitiveness and drive up the cost of doing business here.   Surely a more profitable approach would for Government to admit “IT’S TIME TO FIX THE ROTTEN PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM!”.