Supermarkets wait and see over migrant re-registration

SUPERMARKETS are quietly adopting a wait-and-see attitude towards news that their Venezuelan employees will have to re-register their updated personal details under the Venezuelan Migrant Registration scheme, Supermarket Association of TT (SATT) president Rajiv Diptee told Newsday on Monday.

Minister of National Security Stuart Young on Wednesday last week told the Prime Minister's media briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, that Venezuelans will be given new migrant registration cards, and the previous cards will be invalid.

Since then, Newsday has reported that Venezuelans were now in fear of losing their jobs and/or accommodation, due to uncertainties around the process. Newsday asked the association if its member supermarkets were indeed having jitters over their staff, and if so, why.

Diptee said since the original registration process, SATT itself has had no new concerns over registered Venezuelan employees, but he suggested where the impetus to re-register may have arisen from.

"From our point of view, the immigrants have been absorbed into our sector. We find them to be very hard-working.

"But we have concerns about those who are unable to provide the information to us in terms of the registration documents. We always try to get to know the persons who we have working for us."

He said supermarkets watch out for the possibility of pilferage of goods or the "marking" of stores.

"So we do keep an eye out, and we do share information between ourselves and stores. We are creating a database in terms of workers and anyone who has been involved in any sort of crime, theft or criminal activity. In terms of concerns, they are the typical and traditional ones. There are no new concerns for us for the time.

"However, we could only wait on the update from the Government in this re-registration exercise that is happening and how that will affect the workers we have on the books right now."

Were supermarkets laying off anyone pending the completion of this re-registration process?

"There are more migrants than registered migrants. The concerns and the nervousness now is they might get sent back home or deported to Venezuela if the Government finds out they are here illegally. There are a certain number of migrants across the private sector working in the informal sector.

"I guess the concerns for their employers is that if they are not registered properly there may be penalties that go with that and they don't want to have to deal with that. So that may be where the concerns are originating for the worker and employer."

He said re-registration could serve to allay employer fears.

Diptee estimated the number of Venezuelans in TT exceeded the 16,000 officially registered, and could be 50,000 or even up to 75,000.

But, he said, "We work very closely with our members to ensure their documentation is above board."

Alternatively, he said, undocumented migrants can find casual work in the agricultural, small industrial and small/medium commercial sectors.

"That is one of the reasons, I think, why the Government would launch a re-registration exercise, if the numbers require it to happen.

"There's no need to have a re-registration exercise if the numbers don't justify it, but the numbers are certainly there."

Diptee said most migrant workers work well in TT.

"They are trying to secure a future in TT. Where this country has traditionally had problems getting workers with a strong work ethic, with a low ratio of GDP to output/productivity, you certainly get that productivity with the migrant workers. They tend to put out more per capita.

"Certainly where people see opportunities informally to hire them, they lean towards it."

But he urged supermarkets to remember they are a cash flow business and so should be cautious in hiring undocumented migrants, some of whom might be criminally inclined.

"For the most part, migrants want to earn an honest living. Some people want to help them out. But we need to be very careful ourselves, as you can run real risks in this. You just need to be careful."

On legal penalties for employers with undocumented workers, he said, "That would be down to the Ministry of Labour. They have penalties for these practices.

"We had discussions with them last year. We engaged the ministry, the OSHA Department and the Labour Inspectorate, and we expect to engage with them again this year. We'll have more conversations to see how we can keep the dialogue going and make sure everyone is above board."

As for whether supermarkets were feeling pressured by the re-registration process, "We've been reacting to changes nearly every single day since covid started." Diptee replied. "This is something we want to keep on top of."