PM URGES CONSTRUCTION WORKERS TO REGISTER
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is once again asking that persons register for work with the relevant government and statutory bodies as there is a shortage of construction workers in the country.
Speaking on NBC Radio 705’s Morning Cup program on Wednesday May 28, the Prime Minister said that persons should go to the Building, Roads, and General Services Authority (BRAGSA), the Housing and Land Development Corporation (HLDC), and the Ministry of Housing as government needs workers to take part in the various projects that are currently underway.
“We need more people for work. That is why I had to get 40 Guyanese soldiers to come to help us in the Southern Grenadines,” Dr. Gonsalves said.
On Thursday March 27th, 2025, a 40-member Guyanese military contingent arrived in Union Island to provide support to government in the rebuilding process brought on by Hurricane Beryl on July 1st, 2024. The contingent is made up of personnel from the Guyana Defence Force, Guyana’s 4 Engineer Battalion and the Civil Defence Commission (CDC).
The PM said that government had to pay EC$135 a day to labourers in the Southern Grenadines after Beryl struck. He said they also provided meals.
“These are the facts. What does it make sense that you bury your head in the sand?”, Dr. Gonsalves commented while noting that they are some people who can work and do not want to work.
The Prime Minister said that a large number of carpenters, plumbers, masons, and electricians across the country are gainfully employed while the various technical institutes are turning out skilled workers regularly, some of which migrate to neighbouring countries.
Dr. Gonsalves noted that the demand for skilled workers is high, that some of them cannot accomodate smaller jobs,. “This particular category of workers making old style on people as we say…I don’t mean it in any perverse manner, is just that they say ‘I go try and come by you’ …”, the PM said.
