PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA Omar Ottley is disappointed by the low number of persons who attended the Onset Recruitment Drive for jobs aboard Royal Caribbean cruise ships.
He announced this in the live Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday.
Ottley said the signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Government of St. Maarten and Royal Caribbean Group remains an active partnership. This MOU give persons the opportunity to access up to 1,000 jobs aboard Royal Caribbean cruise ships.
Ottley said the Ministry of Labor’s National Employment Service Center (NESC) will continue to work with Royal Caribbean Group to further build on this partnership.
“I must say that it was quite disappointing to see the turn-out in St. Maarten at the job fair,” said Ottley. He mentioned that in other countries the line of persons attending these jobs fairs was quite vast.
“As the Minister of Labour, and by extension this government, we can create opportunities but we cannot force you to take the opportunities,” he added.
However, Ottley noted that prior to this job fair persons were able to access the online portal.
He said many persons had been seeking information on the number of jobs, participants, etc. This information is being calculated between the NESC and Royal Caribbean Group. The number of participants, the number of persons who showed up for the job fair and the number of persons who registered online will be gathered and shared with the public.
“I look forward to these numbers as well, so that we can share with you, the media, but most importantly, the public of St. Maarten, and I hope that this can be an eye-opener,” said Ottley. “And I do pray and hope that the reason the turnout was not as fruitful as I thought is because we had many persons registering online.”
