John Myers Jr., Staff Reporter
THE JOBS of more than 2,000 hotel workers who would have been cut from the government's Overseas Hotel Employment Programme as a result of tightening security measures in the United States, have been saved.
The jobs were saved as a result of the passage of an Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill, which was incorporated in the Save our Small and Seasonal Business Act of 2005. The Bill was signed by U.S. President, George W. Bush, last week Wednesday.
The Save our Small Business Act of 2005 will also force the 66,000 quota to be equally divided in 2006, guaranteeing that Jamaican workers will continue to benefit from work under the Overseas Hotel Work Programme.
Minister of Labour and Social Security Horace Dalley said "the passage of this bill (will) enable our hospitality workers, who have participated in the U.S. hotel programme over the last three years, to obtain employment for the 2005 season, as they are now exempt from the allotted H-2B (hotel workers) visa quota."
The fate of the programme was placed in doubt when the US Department of Homeland Security decided to enforce the 66,000 limit on the H-2B visa quota which is granted to seasonal workers such as those in the hotel work programme. Mexico and the Caribbean receive the bulk of such visas.
Jamaican workers are normally employed by the Ministry of Labour to work in hotels on the U.S. east coast during spring and summer.
"I am grateful to all the organisations and individuals who have worked tirelessly for the successful passage of the bill," Mr. Dalley said.
The Minister listed the Jamaica Liaison Service, the Florida East Coast Travel, Caribbean Ambassadors to the US, as well as employers of hotel workers and their agents, attorneys and several associations as the main forces which influenced the passage of the bill.
