Chamber of Commerce President Morgan DaCosta has put the suggestion on the table for Government to suspend the roll-over policy in the Business Staffing Plan Law until a solution can be found.
His suggestion joins that of the Cayman Contractors Association and the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism and echoes the thoughts of many business owners.
We agree.
But Government may need to go further than that.
The entire law is under review and scrutiny and recommendations at fixing the problems are forthcoming.
If the review team finds the law filled with flaws, it should be suspended until something that is fair to businesses, their employees, the Government, Immigration and, overall, the economy of the country can be drafted and approved.
But as Mr. DaCosta rightly said Wednesday, the sticking point of the roll-over policy needs some immediate attention.
Under the policy, work permit holders who have been here for seven years have to leave the country unless they’ve applied for permanent residency.
Businesses are just now feeling the impact of the roll-over policy.
A long-established nursery in George Town faces losing six of its 55 employees because of the seven-year limit.
A small sandwich shop that doesn’t employ a lot of people to begin with is staring down the barrel of losing three workers.
As the roll-over policy takes its toll, Caymanians qualified to take on the jobs being vacated are urged to make application and seek employment.
But if there are no qualified Caymanians to take on those jobs, the businesses are certainly the ones that are going to suffer.
Long-term employees more often than not have intimate knowledge of the business they’re leaving as well as invaluable experience.
Those who are in customer-based businesses leave a void because customers become accustomed to familiar faces.
As businesses become negatively impacted, so will the Cayman Islands economy.
We agree that there must be some kind of a limit in place. We don’t want the Cayman Islands to become like other countries that have lost their national identity because too many foreigners were allowed to move in and take over.
We commend those who are taking a review of the law seriously and who are trying to bring about change. It’s not an easy job.
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