Cayman’s tourism minister has admitted the minimum wage is too low, following accusations that the tourism industry “is built on the backs of slave labour”.
Speaking at a public meeting on crime in George Town on Thursday evening, 13 July, Kenneth Bryan hinted the government plans to implement a significant increase.
“I think most people will be quite happy with what we’ll be coming back with soon,” he told attendees at Constitution Hall, “because you were right, we have not been paying enough.”
He added: “I think that the public will be proud of this administration for what we will end up with, so just give us a little bit more time, we’re almost there.”
Bryan’s comments came in response to the opinions of a resident at the meeting who stood to express his upset at the low minimum wage, particularly within the tourism industry.
The minimum wage, established into law for the first time in 2016, is $6 per hour, or $4.50 for service workers who receive gratuities as well as domestic workers living in a private home.
It has not been updated in the seven years since.
“We’re importing slave labour,” the speaker told the panel featuring Bryan, Home Affairs Minister Sabrina Turner and four members of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.
“Nobody can live on $1,070 a month. We’ve known it for 20-odd years and done damn all about it.”
He said the amount people are earning in the hospitality industry now is the same as people were receiving “back in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s”.
“I’ve discussed this with Minister Bryan… from long before he got elected – because the tourism industry is built on the backs of slave labour.”
He also said he was sceptical about the Minimum Wage Review Committee report which is due to be presented to the government at the end of September after a two-month delay.
“Wait to see when this report comes out what they actually want to do,” he said.
The comments came just days after Minister for Labour Dwayne Seymour controversially said the prospect of increasing the minimum wage “is not a big benefit” to most Caymanians.
“That’s not what they depend on,” he said during an interview on Gold radio, and added it may leave them unable to afford services such as private nannies.
In June, the Compass reported that the $6-an-hour minimum pay is 50 cents below ‘starvation wage’ and leaves those receiving it vulnerable to poverty.
“They could really be in danger,” Lemuel Hurlston, head of the Minimum Wage Review Committee said.
In the Cayman Islands, cost of living is significantly higher than the United Kingdom which has an hourly minimum wage equivalent to CI$11.38 for adults over 22 years old.
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