PM clears up issues on Clear Harbor

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit recently took the opportunity to update the public concerning job loss at Clear Harbor, a locally-based customer-service outsourcing firm.

During a press briefing held on Monday, he revealed that the company is in discussion with two potential clients.

According to the PM, if negotiations are successful, then the majority of employees who have been laid off from their positions will be re-engaged.

Clear Harbor has been a major employer in Dominica since 2004 with hundreds of young people on its payroll. Last year it was reported that the company experienced a loss of a major, longest-standing client after an 11-year partnership. This has caused the company to make some difficult decisions including laying off several employees.

“What is happening now with Clear Harbor is that they are in discussion with two potential clients and we believe that if they are able to conclude, because so far they are saying to me it looks promising, but we have to wait for the conclusion,” he said. “But if they’re able to successfully conclude negotiations with these two clients, then the majority of people who were sent home will be re-engaged and so we look forward to that.”

He continued, ”We are providing Clear Harbor with all the necessary support.”

Furthermore, Skerrit revealed that he is in direct contact with the President of Clear Harbor on these matters and “we are on standby to provide whatever support.”

“If it means I have to travel to the United States to meet with potential clients I have offered that to them,” he explained. “We are hoping that we can make some movements in this.”

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister believes that part of the challenge Clear Harbor is being faced with is due to the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

“Ever so often,  such entities go through a process, so they have clients. Sometimes the clients [are] for a three-year period or a five-year period and at the end of those periods, there is some consideration,” he said.  “Sometimes they roll it over, they have done it many times, but  you have a challenge now in the era of AI and this is something that we in Dominica will start speaking about.”

Skerrit pointed out that there are companies now who are moving to an AI solution which is a cheaper solution to them, “and so that’s one of the reasons why we’ve lost many clients.”

“The challenge we had in Dominica, why it was so impactful on us at Clear Harbor, is that we sort of had gotten over the years preferential treatment by Clear Harbor by giving us the bigger clients,” he explained. “So you’ll have one client employing 200 people or 100 people at one go. So if you have a client that’s employing 200 people for you and they pull out, then you can understand the dramatic impact on this.”