Charles

MINISTER of Labour and Social Security, Pearnel Charles, is urging Jamaicans seeking employment in the American hospitality industry to get registered through the ministry.

Charles made the call yesterday following the death of a Jamaican worker at a ski resort in Colorado on Sunday. The worker, 29-year-old Alicia White, was employed at the Two Elk Lodge in the city of Vail.

The Labour Ministry has no record of White on the ministry's hospitality programme data base, Charles told The Gleaner. He said Jamaican officials in Washington, D.C., were not aware of White's death.

"We have been getting reports of illness, deaths and persons having legal problems over there, but we cannot help them if they are not registered with the Government," Charles said.

Move for mandatory registration

The minister said he plans to present a proposal to Cabinet making it mandatory for Jamaican hospitality workers to register with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security before leaving for the United States.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that White was pronounced dead at the Vail Valley Medical Center. The report said doctors had not given a cause of death.

Through the United States' Hospitality Programme, which was launched in 1989, thousands of Jamaicans have gained employment at properties in that country.