Senior academic and historian Dr. Mellissa Ifill has raised concerns about the displacement of Guyanese workers from customer-service jobs, particularly women, as Spanish-speaking migrant workers become increasingly visible in stores, supermarkets, malls and other businesses in Georgetown.
In a statement on her Facebook page yesterday, Ifill said she has personally decided to boycott businesses that have “fired or let go” of most or all of their Guyanese customer-service workers and replaced them with Spanish-speaking employees.
She noted that her position is primarily driven by concerns about the fate of the Guyanese workers who have lost their jobs, many of whom she said are women who depended on the income to support their families. “I often wonder how these women are feeding their families,” she said, questioning whether the displaced workers have found alternative employment and whether they received severance payments to which they may have been entitled.
She also raised concerns about the possible exploitation of migrant workers by businesses seeking to reduce labour costs.
According to her, some businesses may be replacing Guyanese employees because they can pay migrant workers less and avoid statutory obligations, including pension and medical contributions and overtime payments.
Ifill further contended that some businesses deliberately employ Spanish-speaking workers without proper work permits or documentation, allowing them to exploit their vulnerable circumstances by paying them very low wages, denying benefits, requiring excessively long working hours or dismissing them without cause.
She also questioned the quality of customer service being provided by some businesses, noting that employers have failed to adequately train their customer-service workers and that language barriers have further compounded the problem.
She said businesses that do not retain workers who can effectively communicate with local customers to provide assistance, answer questions or take orders do not demonstrate sufficient regard for their customers.
However, she said that her concerns should not be interpreted as opposition to immigration or migrant workers. “I’m not anti-immigrant,” she said, describing herself as “very, very sympathetic to economic migrants.”
She pointed to Guyana’s own history of migration, noting that many Guyanese have relatives or friends who migrated overseas in search of economic opportunities and to support their families. She also rejected the idea that her position was based on opposition to migration across national borders, arguing that migration and movement between communities have long been part of the region’s history.
Instead, she said the country is facing a situation that needs to be managed before tensions increase. “We have a dilemma folks and lest empathy and goodwill evaporate, the situation must be managed and not left to drift and deteriorate.”
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