(Tahitipresse) – Assembly members passed Tuesday new measures aimed at protecting jobs. A minimum five-year residency will be required for persons wishing to work in public or private companies in French Polynesia.
The two bills were passed by 56 votes out of French Polynesia’s 57 Assembly members.
The majority coalition including Oscar Temaru’s UPLD and Gaston Tong Sang’s To Tatou Ai’a said the text was just right.
But the opposition party, Gaston Flosse’s Tahoeraa huiraatira, argued that a minimum ten-year residency would be even better.
Tahoeraa huiraatira Assembly members, however, finally chose to vote for the new measures with only a minimum five-year residency.
To get the authorization to work in French Polynesia, husbands or spouses of Tahitians will have to prove that they have been married for at least two years.
Some Assembly members said the new measures should also include persons who were born in Tahiti and went overseas to study and work.
But this point has not been kept in the final version of the two bills passed Tuesday.
Employers who would not abide the law could have to pay a US$ 2,000 fine (€ 1,500).
Minister of Labor and Employment Pierre Frébault said these new measures are not a way to cut ties with the outside world.
He claimed these measures are, in a way, the “first step” towards the creation of a Tahitian “citizenship”.
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