Dunkley’s Questions on Uighur’s Employment
Following the news that the four Uighur men are no longer employed at the Port Royal Golf Course, Senator Michael Dunkley has asked about their futures and what will happen to them, asking are “the Uighurs free to seek employment on the island, even though they appear not to be able to comply with Immigration requirements for foreign nationals, such as leaving the island to apply for work, and being proficient in English?”
The four men [Khaleel Mamut, Abdulla Abdulqadir, Salahidin Abdulahat, Ablikim Turahun] were released from the offshore US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and resettled in Bermuda in July 2009. The Chinese nationals were granted employment at the Government owned golf course soon after their arrival. The men were cleared of security concerns after being imprisoned by the US Government for years without charge.
The four were being paid approximately $51,000 a year each for their work as groundsmen at the Port Royal Golf Course. The Government Labour Force Survey conducted a few weeks prior [during 13 - 19 May 2009], showed there were over 1,700 unemployed Bermudians in that timeframe, with 1,139 being male. [PDF report]
Senator Dunkley also asks if the four men have been paying for their living expenses, and “if the government has been subsidizing their living expenses, will these costs continue to be paid by the government.” Premier Dr Ewart Brown had previously stated that the US Government had agreed to pay for relocation expenses up to $100,000 per man.
The full statement by Senator Michael Dunkley, Shadow Minister Labour and Immigration, is below:
This morning we learned that the Uighurs, after a year working Government-provided jobs at Port Royal Golf Course, have joined thousands of long-suffering Bermudians in the ranks of the unemployed.
We have some questions about the plans for these four men given their unique exemption from Immigration rules that are aggressively enforced on all others.
Our questions are directed to the Premier because of his pivotal role in secretly bringing them to island in violation of the Bermuda’s Constitution.
The Premier defended his role in the Uighur caper, as driven by moral concern for their well-being.
So our first question is: What is now going to happen to them as a result of their Port Royal jobs being terminated?
Are the Uighurs free to seek employment on the island, even though they appear not to be able to comply with Immigration requirements for foreign nationals, such as leaving the island to apply for work, and being proficient in English?
Since finding them jobs at Port Royal as well as places to live, have the Uighurs been paying for their housing and all associated costs, as do all Bermudians and foreign nationals residing here? If the government has been subsidizing their living expenses, will these costs continue to be paid by the government?
Finally, what is the status of the discussions between the US and the UK on the Uighurs?
Update 3:40pm: Government announced this afternoon that the four Uighur men have secured employment in the private sector, with the specific company not stated.
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- Dunkley’s Questions on Uighur’s Employment » World Uyghur Congress | October 13, 2010
I strongly believe we made a big mistake letting them in and don’t
see how we can reverse this humanly ? They should be given Bermuda status unless they prefer to relocate ?
Send their asses back to the United States. They were their problem but good ol Doc just had to let them in and now we have to help find them jobs, shelter, etc? While MANY Bermudians are unemployed? It’s sickening. Pack them up and return them to the United States and let them figure it out. How can they say they were “escaping oppression” or whatever excuse they used but left behind their families? These four said they had wives but then in the newspaper said they hope to find wives and live happy here? Bad idea then, bad idea now. Thanks Doc!
It’s only four people. I have worked closely with a lot of refugees, and I will never understand how they can leave their families. I suspect that some things matter less to you when you’ve been locked up for long.
Are they too old to be sent to the Regiment?
Exactly. Well that comment in the newspaper pissed me off. They can pack up and head back to their families. Leave your family behind to suffer? That’s why I don’t believe it anyway. Something isn’t right with them and that situation. I think they are too old for the regiment.
i dont remember the history of it all… did they leave their families behind? or were they snatched up by US forces and taken basically from their families?
They were found in a terrorist camp! They had left their families LONG before they were snatched up.
ah k k. thx.. ya pretty mug. I suppose maybe they thought they’d go to fight for a cause that would help their families… but now that they say they want wives.. and not calling for their families to be helped… kinda crappy
“These four said they had wives but then in the newspaper said they hope to find wives and live happy here? ”
Could you provide links to your sources?
Do I look like you teacher? Your mother? Your babysitter? Go to the royalgazette website and look yourself. They said it. Do it yourself if you don’t believe me.
In the Bda Sun ..
Some ppl need to be more aware of what’s going on around them.
Hope you haven’t been brainwashed into hating on the media … lol
Yeah I knew it was one of them. It was back when they were in the paper damn near daily. Hating on the media?? lol
there problem is they could not go back, they would be killed once they go back to china, and their family members do not have freedom to go wherever they want, so how can they unite ? they could not see their relatives(family members) anymore. do you know how cruel china is ?
So leave their family to suffer? Do you know how cruel the world is..period?! We are a small country we can’t take in every person in the world who comes from a cruel country. They will be killed? That’s what they told you huh? I have a nice bridge you might be interested in send me your email address so we can discuss it further.
There is no doubt they would be killed once they go back, you can search how is minorities’ situation in china, you go google Uighur/Uyghur or Tibetan. what should they do ? should they go fight with china and rescue their family? Bermuda accepted them because of humanism, and they appreciate that. If Bermudians do not care humanism, then it is fine, go protest and ask your government ignore humanism. do not talk “cruel” to them, you do not qualify to talk about cruel to them, you are a spoiled baby for them in this case. My email is: Justusethat@gmail.com
Send them to ‘Gombey House’, AP Owen Rd, and let the good Dr. and his pal Cpl. Burch house them, feed them, and fund their living expenses. They created this mess, let them clean it up. Afterall, the good Dr. has such a moral concern for their well-being.
I find it less the coincidental that they are let go just as the person who brought them here is about to leave office.
My thoughts precisely. I suspect there is a lot more to the story that we’ll never see answered.
True!
yup me too, very strange they leaving now!
How about the fact that these four men were cut and all the hours of the Bermudian staff have been cut at Port Royal. So much for the 20 million renovation and the $180,000 Mr Brookes get to promote the course…Oh and plus his housing????
Typical selfish Bermudian attitudes. These comments make me sick.
Selfish? Do you not read the article? Were it says over 1,000 Bermudians are out of work? And we should care about these four who escaped their country and “accidentally” ended up at a terrorism training camp? Are you serious?! If you aren’t Bermudian and in Bermuda you too can pack up and leave too.
It’s not selfish at all.
What is the definition of a terrorist camp though? A muslim military base is not automatically a terrorist camp. Are boy scouts terrorists? Our Regiment trains people to make cocktail bombs, is that terrorism?
That’s what they called it, not me. Who are you and why are you defending them? They are not Bermudian and they don’t need to be here taking up space and jobs from Bermudians because they just wanted to up and leave their country. I can’t up and move to the United States if I feel like it because I don’t like what the government is doing.
I am certainly not defending them. When I lived abroad, I donated my time and worked directly with refugees. Many of them lied to my face about their circumstances, and they just wanted to leave their countries. Other experienced horrors that I hope we never see on this island. I worked with people whose siblings were child soldiers…. and won’t go into detail on this site.
After reading those articles, I personally believe that these men have no right to be on this island at all, and should be sent away immediately.
(Just wanted to get my facts straight before I expressed that view.)
I too, am bothered by some of these comments…I would like to hear Uncle Ruckus’s sources.
I totally Agree Mayson!!!! Very Selfish!!!
Okay then. 1000 Bermudians out of work. Advertise the four positions and see how many of those Bermudians apply. From that list, pick the four best local Bermudian candidates. After one year, audit their performance and attendance.
Side story: Just last week my uncle was looking for a labourer to assist with construction work. Met a local guy and asked to meet at 7:30 a.m. the next morning to get started, $20 an hour. He shows up at 10:30 and when shown the work to be done (labour, cement, brickwork, etc) he scoffs and quits right then and there. I witnessed this and similar events this past year.
And before telling me to pack up and leave, we are black, Bermuda born entrepreneurs STRUGGLING with foolishness like this and then when we advertise and hire non-Bermudian spouse of a Bermudian OR an expat we have to deal with ridicule as if we are charlatans.
Exactly.
Thanks for stereotyping an entire nation of people for what one man did. The age old “Bermudians are lazy so hire foreigners”. $20 an hour is not a lot int he construction business, to get started or not. I was making that at 15 filing papers. Hire these four if Bermudians don’t meet your slave labor criteria. How much are you making off of the hard work they are doing? What’s your company’s name?
I have plenty of stories which are exactly the same. Opportunities are there, but the work is deemed to beneath the applicants and thus they just go about complianing about foreigners and being unemployed.
Tell a slave that $20 is slave wages…see their reaction…
Plenty of stories. It doesn’t change the reality the foreignors are coming here knowing that they are being paid less than they deserve and enjoy it. I’ve heard them bragging about how far the money goes when they send it back home, and I don’t fault them for it.
I fault their employers. These companies want to insult Bermudians for asking for a fair wage and call us lazy. I admit that we all have to eat and if unemployed, I’d take any job. If I have other options, than I will reject the unfair wage.
The upset employer can spin the story however they please, tell it to ten people, and next thing you know it comes back to them as another person’s story. We as a people are not lazy and working as an underpaid labourer is not as great an ‘opportunity’ as being an apprentice.
Exactly. I actually agree. Do they know how foreigners live? I have about 5 of them living next door in a two bedroom apartment. All men! Their rent is probably $1800-$2000 a month. They probably make over $2500 a month EACH! They don’t care how they live here, they don’t know anyone here and they don’t intend to stay long. I’ve worked with them too and they told me that with their own mouths. They do not want to spend the rest of their lives here. They go home and live like Kings and Queens. They send all their money back home. It doesn’t stay in Bermuda. Our dollar equates to multiple dollars in many of the foreigners who live and work heres home country. I’ve seen my co-workers mansion back home. I’ve heard the conversations.
lol with people like you around who would want to stay here anyway?
it is upsetting that Bermudians are unemployed and expats are filling jobs, but at the end of the day if you send all the expats back to their homes this island will literally shut down. Not just the “elite international business”, but every industry will just crumble either directly or as repercussion of another industry dying.
The attitude that “all expats are here for cheap wages and then leaving” is just as bad a stereotype as “all Bermudians are lazy”. we hear about the bad apples and then we make an assumption about them all. Well done hypocrite ruckus
Completely off the point…again. $20 to BERMUDAS standard of living is not much. A loaf of bread is almost $10. And so what if ONE Man didn’t take the job and showed up late that’s ONE person. Not everyone takes a job they are offered. Please tell me all the plenty of stories? Are you CJ under another name? Wtf. Anyway if you have plenty of stories share them all and tell me the story of each Bermudian who refused the job. Lets have it. Look at what you wrote above. ONE man didn’t take the job so you jumped to looking for an expat or or “non Bermudian spouse”. You think out of the over 1000 unemployed people not ONE would take the job? Look at the hustle truck and how many people fought to get on it to make some money.
Also you haven’t named your black owned Bermudian business.
Alright.
Well my girl is an HR person for a local company who seeks to hire Bermudians from the list provided from the BIU, BHC, Dept. of Labor, Hustle Truck and so on and so forth.
These individuals are referred to my girl’s company through the said organizations. These individuals are required to get a form signed each and every week (I believe it is every week) stating that they have been actively seeking employment.
Each and every one of the individuals that are required to do this come into my girl and simply ask, “can you sign this letter for me to say I have been looking for work,” so my girl asks “are you interested in being employed in the companies industry.” Each and every response is “no I just need the paper signed that’s all.” This isn’t a one person example. This is a weekly occurrence as i hear it each and every time it happens. And the one’s that do get hired seem to have a problem keeping time or keeping their xenophobic attitude to themselves (i.e. cursing off a foreign boss because they don’t like being told what to do). My girl comes home frustrated frequently as she is all for ensuring Bermudians are gainfully employed. She bends her back over each and every time and each and every time she seems like the jack ass ny her bosses because of these incidents.
So she turns around and tells all the referring organizations about what happened and how they are just looking for signatures but no actual employment. These organizations admit that this is the case and they are trying desperately to change the mentality of these individuals.
Then what happens when a foreigner takes the job which each and every of these persons turned down (despite being first priority), they blame the foreigners.
Bullsh#t. A broad a#s vague comment. I asked about you and your “company”.
I am not CJ mate as can be evidenced by my name.
Call bullsh*t all you want. It is you that is fooling yourself by sticking your fingers in your ears and going, “lalalallala…if i can’t hear you it can’t be true…”
Anyways I have provided one example as requested now take it however you want…
Better yet ask the BIU, BHC, Dept. of Labor etc. if you don’t believe me…
@ It was there
I worked for one of these restaurants before as a waitor and after working a 60+ hour week, I was given a cheque of $340 before deductions. So no I didn’t stay working there long. That is not a fair wage. We are not lazy people.
The same agencies told me that I was overqualified because of my degrees and then they brought an MBA in to work as an Admin Assistant. 18 months later she’s engaged and working at XL.
If you haven’t lived it, stop telling about what your ace gurl said.
lol … Ask Dale Butler about the personal epiphany he went through when he became the hiring guy at the Little Venice group. Had previously spent his whole life beating the ‘Bda for Bdians ..blah blah’ drum .
He quickly found out that ‘Bda Business’ hadn’t been making up stories for decades about why they had to turn to overseas labour.
@ D … I know restaurant (hotel) work has rotten hours and low pay …I’ve done that too. I wasn’t talking about that.
If you were a tad better read you’d know of the incident I was refering to.
It came from Dale’s mouth , not my ace gurl …. The guys never even hung around to get a first pay check so that wasn’t the issue.
Maybe your not ‘over qualified’ … they just might not like your attitude … That is something employers judge too , yanno .
@ It was there…
There was never anything wrong with my attitude. I am one of the many Bermudians that worked abroad, returned home for personal reasons, and found that the job market had changed. I took a job in kitchen to cover bills, atively seeked emplyment in my field and now I have it.
I have been on the job hunt in three different countries in the last 12 months. What I found to be a 2 -4 week process abroad, is a 4 – 6 month process here. And in many cases far longer…
dude a loaf of bread is $4.50… what gourmet $10 loaf are you buying?
Yes every loaf of bread in Bermuda is $4.50. Beam Me Up Scotty!
*I didn’t say it was $10 either* lol
@ ruckus “A loaf of bread is almost $10″
… ya did say it’s almost 10… and the 4.50 i said is not almost 10. $7.50 could even not be called “almost 10″.
and secondly, no not every loaf is, but you can get a fresh loaf that’s pretty big for about that cost… so if you are out buying “almost $10″ loafs, and then complaining about certain wages not being good enough, i think you need to reevaluate your expenses
Bread is $4.50 in Toronto too and our Minimum wage is $10.50. Our housing is a lot lower than Bermuda (Example $1800 for a 1 bedroom in a prime location) and thats what helps us pay our bills etc
@ Canadian Luv
There is no enforceable minimum wage in Bermuda, and there is no mandatory overtime. Ask any kitchen porter.
We can’t deny the facts. I’ve seen guys showing up late on the job site, leaving early, and having other co-workers punch their time cards for them. I have also seen foreign workers longer hours, doing top quality work and later and getting into the same bad habits. After all the Bermudian workers left the site, they would start drinking beer for an hour, and then get back to work.
I’m a working professional and let me say when I was inbetween jobs I would have worked 12 hour days for you, just like I did as a labourer when I was 17. I was never late and I learned as much about the job as I could. Now I work in the corporate world. My employer was upset with me when I went off to university.
The problem is that there is no in-between. There are a lot of hard-working young Bermudian males… we just don’t see the position as a labourer as a long term job.
We want a bigger piece of the cake.
That salary is also too low for brick work.
Good for you. Maybe we should have a world full of you! A world full of the same type of person would be beautiful. Total utopia!
The rest I agree with.
Sarcasm?
Let me clarify my statement. I stayed late one day and the other Bermudians had left. I saw that the foreign workers were all getting drunk on company time. May I also add that other Bermudians were working 12 hours days with me as well.
My point was that all Bermudians are being stereotyped as being lazy and all foreignors are being stereotyped as hard workers when that IS NOT the case on either end.
Foreignors come here, put on a show when the boss is around, and when the boss and the locals have left… they take off their hats and chug back their beers.
Yup.
I agree with some of your points. Thanks for clarifying.
true true, I can defintiely relate to that there!! We are black Bermudians who are business owners as well. Bermudians who want to sincerely work are few and far between!!
I have an issue with the face that there are Expats employed while the unemployment rate is so high in Bermuda.
However if a Bermudian do not have the necessary skills to do the job or have the proper work ethic then let the expats do the job . What is the issue?
Shape up or we have to ship them in!
* Fact .woops.
A lot of the jobs that you find in the paper are tailored to the people that have already them. All this so that they can keep their jobs. They add little requirements that no Bermudian will never have.
What local carpenter has 2 -5 years experience working on a mining site, and how is that even relevant here.
LOL!
Err yes that sounds a little weird!
Experience with certain Safety procedures? Lol that’s all I can think of!
If you believe that the premier brought the Uighurs here for “humanitarian purposes”, I’ve got a bridge to sell you!!
I have one to sell too.
A lot of these jobs that Bermudians won’t do are because they are low paying and “I can’t be seen doing that foolishness for that much pay grrl! I’d rather Jahmiko go sit on de hill and sell some veed and pay my $600 Digicel crapberry bill grrl!!!”
Makes sense do right? So long as you don’t get caught slipping.
@Interesting nice time to say that right? Went along with it all this time. LOL. Yeah okay.
Not too sure what you meant by your comment above…but i don’t rally care either…
But it is quite obvious that you refuse to look at the issue other than from your POV…despite the fact that people have presented you with your requested examples…so no point in discussing anymore…take care mate
I have no issue with you. My views are mine, not yours. The same way you don’t agree with me is the same way I don’t agree with you. I don’t see why that’s hard to understand.
My above comment was a semi joke. I used to be against these guys selling drugs but I’m slowly not caring anymore. I personally as well as others have experienced abuse in the workforce and unfair treatment. I am a hard worker and was fired unfairly, to say that all Bermudians are lazy and don’t want to work is insulting. But we will not work hard for crap pay, that’s a reality. Everyone wants what they are worth. Sure their are some a very small number of Bermudians who are lazy and don’t want to work but want money but that’s not all of us. You and others then go on to say well we just go sell drugs to pay for our cell phone bill. More stereotyping and I’m surmise to say slight racism. Expats come in and think they run things and treat us unfairly. Anyone who is mistreated will stand up for themselves and not take abuse, unfair wages, etc.
“You and others then go on to say well we just go sell drugs to pay for our cell phone bill.”
I would appreciate it if you didn’t attribute such comments to myself as I did not make them and never have. So your claims of racism are unfounded and unfair.
Oh an if you still believe that I am CJ, then just check out the different avatars which are allocated to each other…notice how yours stays the same?…notice how mine stays the same?…notice how CJ’s is different?
*notice how CJ’s is different from my designated avatar?*
You are denying too much. I’ve posted under different names and the avatar changes. *eye roll*
Actually the avatar is based on your ISP address and not the name in whuch you post under. Ask the admin if you don’t believe me for a second time.
*rolls eyes*
If you say so when I’ve done it before. *double eye roll*
You have to know the system to cheat it. You’ve got two laptops inna.
You guys are funny…type under a different name then…
Actually here you are….
One option is to get a custom avatar. I have one —>
Juyst go to http://en.gravatar.com – you upload a pic, set your email address and anytime you post using that email address the custom avatar will show up. Works on thousands of sites, including ours…
Patricia
Quite a few Bermudians have well earned us the the reputation of being lazy, of not showing up, and not wanting to work evenings, weekends and Queeeen Barfday etc.
Business people do what they have to – and that happens to be hiring foreigners. If you have a problem with that, don’t blame the businesses, or the foreigners – blame the Governement that you voted for and put in power! You remember, the one that told you you’d get all de beeeg jobs and that all de axpats would be kicked out.
Instead, you are worse off than in 98, and your Government brought in 4 Gitmo guys. Now we’re stuck with them and Brown, if he does anything at all, will try to blame the UK for not granting them citizenship.
Lazy Bermudians caused this problem. It will be a long hard road back after Brown leaves us in this mess he directly caused. Go Home Dr Brown – leave us alone.
LMAO! D you are a fool. I don’t need to “cheat the system” on Bernews! He is arguing about something when I’ve done if before and not on a different computer. I do have another laptop and a desktop though.
LOL. What a simpleton. I’m not going to explain. But you’re now arguing over a damn avatar? Thy protest too much.
like really??? avatars??? must be something more important to say!!
Maybe the issue is not the hiring of foreign workers but adjusting the cost of living. The Government taxing payroll certaintly did not help in a recession, not only did that make it more expensive to employ it also took money away from the worker in every industry. At a Corporate level most Xpat workers are given a housing allowance and all deductions including payroll are absorbed by the company, so payroll tax really only takes from the Bermudian Pocket. To clarify, I have no issue with Xpat workers what they make and how they make it because to be honest without their expertise in the business sector there would be none of these foreign companies in Bermuda and the trickle down affect is alot less jobs in construction and elsewhere. What I do have an issue with is, that Bermudian’s both Black and White who rent property, rent at a crazy price to these xpats because they know it’s not coming out of their own pockets and these businesses can afford it. Why are we not taxing Housing allowance?? Not only does it indirectly lower rental rates across the board it taxes xpats indirectly and does not impacT their overall income. Instead we Tax payroll and that impacts all Bermudians in every industry. So why are we not working towards lowering our cost of living, so that $20 an hour is not so cheap anymore.
AMEN!
Fancy that, they’ve already secured new jobs. I think I need to write refugee on my resume too.
What skills could they possibly possess to get jobs so much quicker than our Bermudians.
@ Uncle Ruckus
My apologies mate. Clearly, there is a lot more going on here than we all realised.
Hence my previous comment!! Uncle Ruckus isn’t talking hear himself…. There are definitely some underlying factors with that whole situation, because the fact that they can get a job in the blink of an eye is shady!!! Ewart’s still at it!! My island paradise is going to HELL in a hand basket!! And the next puppet won’t be any better, trust and believe!!
Cool. I have no issue with you I just find it crazy. One of my parents was out of work for half a year, sent out numerous applications and resumes. Is a “hard worker” and all that. It’s bull. The whole situation. Huey whatever man.
Hey Scott you can kiss my whole a##hole if you didn’t like my comment. You are a moron to think otherwise. Most ridiculous comment I’ve seen all day. Take your foreign a#s back home!
lol nice assumption mate… but just as where ya got it in for CJ.. i too have been bermudian all my life
so i aint goin no where either. live with it.
Don’t care. Don’t have to live with it/you…thank God. “mate” Must be one of those Tucker Town folk so you are just as much a foreigner as the Uighurs. And I’m the Queen of England. You can be who you want on the internet, mate.
hehe wrong again!! love the assumptions. Born n bread somerset and then more recently moved to Smiths, followed by a more recent move to pembroke.
no tuckers down here, i couldn’t even rent a garden shed up there.
I could be who i want online, just as you seem to have taken the persona of a cartoon character, but instead i dont. I do find it funny though that all your comments seem to be in direct conflict with the character you have so portrayed as your online name/avatar.
best part is.. depending on how old you are, i’m either more bermudian than you, or more bermudian than your child. I’m sure that’s pretty irritating for you to think of though.
The problem is, people just don’t acknowleddge that we do not live in a small, self-serving island anymore. We cannot sustain even the bermudian population by ourselves. We need expat workers. Yes the 4-5 people in 1 apartment is an abuse of the system and should be fixed, but forgein workers in themselves are not the issue and on the whole do not match that stereotype.
*bred
Hold on hold on one minute. I’m completely over looking the fact that Mr. Milkman himself is “questioning” this. Pretty hypocritical with all the foreigners he hires payi…oh let me hush. Freedom of speech isn’t so free.
This is one of the more effective debates that I’ve read on this site. Despite a couple of personal attacks here and here, people have all migrated to the same views. Scott, Interesting, and I started off somewhat neutral to this situation and now we are all saying the same things as Uncle Ruckus.
All the facts were laid out on the table, and noone can dispute that fact that what is happening is wrong.
There is no excuse as to why these 4 men would handed jobs when qualified Bermudians are rejected and told the jobs don’t exist.