Minister: Railway Trail Initiative A Success
Minister of Public Works Michael Weeks spoke on a public/private partnership within the Ministry of Public Works earlier this week. The Department of Parks contracts maintenance of the Railway Trial to local landscaping companies who are required to hire Bermudians as trainees.
The contractor was required to submit monthly progress reports to the Department of Parks’ Park Planner concerning the trainee and trainees were hired full time for six months. Minister Weeks said, “I am very pleased to be joined today by our first two graduates from the programme – Kennejah Darrell and Teo Burgess.”
“My thanks to the contractor, Green Man Landscaping and owners Valter and Lidia Medeiros who have been so enthusiastic in helping by employing these young Bermudians and training them on the job in all aspects of landscape management.”
The Minister’s full statement follows below:
Good afternoon, and thank you for coming today.
During these tough economic times the Government is committed to helping Bermudians find work.
Several Departments in several ministries have initiatives to achieve this, and today I am happy to announce a successful public/private partnership within the Ministry of Public Works that has borne fruit.
The Department of Parks contracts maintenance of the Railway Trial to local landscaping companies and for the latest RFP we include a requirement to hire Bermudians as trainees.
The successful contractor was required to manage the railway trial crew with one member of the contractor’s staff serving as the on the job trainer for the person in the hiring initiative.
The contactor also provided a uniform for the trainee, the necessary tools and equipment, including protective equipment and they were required to submit monthly progress reports to the Department of Parks’ Park Planner concerning the trainee. The contractors had to hire the trainees full time for six months.
We started out with six trainees. While we did experience some initial teething pains with some of those hired, we have now worked through those issues and I am very pleased to be joined today by our first two graduates from the programme – Kennejah Darrell and Teo Burgess.
Kennejah and Teo, let me offer my congratulations – you have done all of us in the Ministry of Public Works proud. I encourage you to stick with it, work hard and perhaps someday soon you will own your own landscaping business.
My thanks to the contractor, Green Man Landscaping and owners Valter and Lidia Medeiros who have been so enthusiastic in helping by employing these young Bermudians and training them on the job in all aspects of landscape management.
Thanks also to the Parks staff who have been involved in getting this programme up and running.
I hope we will see more graduates from this programme in the near future and we will work to ensure there are further opportunities for other young, unemployed Bermudians looking for a rewarding career.
This is just another example of how we in the Ministry of Public Works are embracing the Premier’s message to build one another, together.
Thank you.
-
I know there’s other areas affected , but while we’re on the subject maybe someone in the right department can install a hidden camera or two on sections of the Railway Trail to catch the vermin who use these beautiful areas as their personal illegal dumps.
On the section that I frequent often , the one that runs from Frank’s Bay to Whale Bay , some ‘individual ‘ insists on dumping their household excess appliances under the Chinese Fan Palms just east of Greene’s Guest House , out of sight of the traffic. The last ‘dump’ was about a month ago , the next will probably be around June or so .
For the last few years items such as computers, barbeques , vaccuum cleaners , fold away beds , tool chests,lawn furniture and bike parts have been accumulating under the palm fronds that the landscaping firms seem to dump on top of the garbage hoping that it will just go away. No one ,it seems, is ever notified to come and get rid of this trash making this section of a valuable asset look like a slum.
So what Minister Weeks is saying is the success of this initiative is down to two out if six workers completing the course? Those statistics are familiar with the success rate of employers trying to hire and keep Bermudians for these jobs. It was one of the main arguments raised when the Landscape moratorium was initially launched it is a challenge to find locals who are willing and capable of working in this field!
As for teething pains Ill share a few Im sure were witnessed. Habitual tardiness (lateness), lack of enthusiasm or professionalism, Bad attitude, alcohol or drug use, AWOL to name just a few.
While I do congratulate and encourage those who finished the program this is hardly any measure for success and little more than a PLP electioneering/PR stunt.
If anything it reinforces what the stakeholders in this field have been saying all along and justifies their need for foreign labour. To remain a viable and profitable business there is a need for foreign labour to compliment what Bermudian’s are already working in this field. You will find precious few who are sincerely willing to commit to landscaping as a career choice.
33.33% success! Truly something to be proud of!
Or was it 66.66% failure?
@james s…you know, a .333 success rate in baseball would get you into the Hall of Fame. Maybe this is what the Minister was talking about! hahahaha
These certificates? Are they some sort of qualification or is it just a piece of paper made up to look that way? I’m not saying that teaching someone a useful skill is bad, I think we need more ofthis type of training and I applaud the companies that help out.
My problem is the political BS, every time someone “completes” training. If the ministers cared as much about the prople as their reputation Bermuda would be a better place.
You all are kidding, right? Only a 33% completion, or is it pass rate, for basic grass cutting & tree pruning? Working in a McDonalds crew takes more skills.
The usual celebration and congratulations all round of abject failure…….we should be (and are) hanging our heads.
Well, not the you-know-who crew.
I am hoping that the landscape companies that are contracted by Government to keep the Railway Trails clean are also picking up the litter and dumped waste. Throwing horticultural waste on top of garbage is not the correct thing to do, so it would be very appropriate to train the staff — including new Bermudian staff — to do the landscaping, maintenance and clean up of our beautiful Trails correctly. Congratulations to the new honourees!
It’s just an election ploy.
We already have Government employees that do this.
Public/Private my ass.
Why hire when you have already a bunch of lazy idiots standing around.
It’s a ploy, you don’t get it?
Estimates are in place for this work. Now they are ‘Hiring’?
I give up.
Where is that guy going to drive the $60,000 Jeep, paid for by you & me, sittting comphy in those leather seat listening to his ipod through the Bose sound system, now?
The private contractors are doing his job. Maybe W&E need a Jeep driving supervisor to check on the landscape contractors.