Haiti - Construction : Towards regularization of the Haitian workforce in the Dominican Republic ?
Eliseo Cristopher, President of the Dominican Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Construction Enterprises (COPYMECON), in a meeting with Vice Admiral Luis Rafael Lee Ballester, Director General of Migration, presented the "urgent" need to regularize the Haitian workforce in the Dominican Republic.
He said that the construction sector requires a workforce that is not fully available today in the country, as is the case in the agricultural sector.
He urged the authorities and the business sector to seek consensus to solve this problem, protected by current immigration laws and regulations.
Cristopher considers it important for companies to hire foreigners who are duly regularized and authorized by Dominican immigration laws. He also stressed the urgency of "Dominicanizing" and mechanizing construction, to ensure a balance between the sector's labor needs and compliance with immigration regulations.
Lee Ballester, for his part, stressed the importance of conducting a detailed survey to quantify the specific labor needs of the construction SME sector. He considers this survey essential to design strategies in line with market demands and immigration regulations.
