Text size:

Foreign Youth Serve on East End

By Tara A. Scully | Staff Writer

GOSMAN'S DOCK RESTAURANT in Montauk is one of many East End establishments that hires foreign students as summer help. "We brought the first Irish students here in the late '60s, then the word spread," said manager Roberta Gosman-Donovan.

Gurney's Inn in Montauk also depends on foreign students during the busy summer season. "We wouldn't be able to keep up our service the way our guests are used to without the additional help," said spokeswoman Ingrid Lemme.Prudence Carrabine, of East Hampton, ran an employment agency from 1982 until her retirement in 1993. In the early '80s, moved by the extensive unemployment she witnessed on a trip to Ireland, Carrabine began helping foreign students find summer jobs. By the middle to late '80s, there were between 600 and 800 each summer working between Montauk and Southhampton, she said.

Immigrants have long been a source of summer help in the Hamptons. After World War II, many Polish immigrants found employment on eastern Long Island, according to Carrabine. In recent years as Ireland's economy improved, the number of Irish seasonal workers declined. Carrabine said the largest influx is currently Spanish-speaking immigrants from the Caribbean.

Gosman-Donovan said students from Eastern Europe are showing interest in job prospects here.

Most foreign students come to Long Island for the summer to earn money for the ensuing college term. Many work as waiters, maids or at other service jobs in hotels and restaurants.

In addition to providing businesses with much-needed labor, most foreign students are able to work into late September, longer than their American counterparts.James Hewitt, owner of Shagwong restaurant in Montauk, said foreigners balance out labor shortages.

"It helps us out in this transient sort of tourist community," he said.