Our legislators have commented in the past about how Cayman
imports poverty to this country.
For years, Cayman employers have imported labour from
impoverished countries like Jamaica, Honduras and the Philippines because
people from those countries were willing to come here and work for very low
wages, sometimes less than $5 per hour.
In order to survive on their very low wages in an expensive
jurisdiction like the Cayman Islands, many people from these poor countries
have to live in some of Grand Cayman’s most decrepit housing, or by sharing an
apartment with 10 or more people.
Some employers also take advantage of these workers by
making them work longer hours than required by law without extra pay, and, in
some cases, making deductions for health insurance and pensions without paying
it over to the provider of those services.
This phenomenon is nothing new; it’s been happening for many
years and, for the most part, we have all turned a blind eye to it. After all,
some reasoned, it’s not as if anyone forced these people to come and live here;
they are free to leave whenever they wish.
While that might be true, it doesn’t change the fact that
many Cayman employers have taken advantage of the desperation of others and
that no matter how we rationalise what has happened, it’s exploitation.
The Philippines is now taking action to protect its citizens
from exploitation and abusive labour practices abroad. Its government has
ordered a ban on the deployment of workers to 41 countries that do not have
laws protecting foreign workers. The Cayman Islands finds itself on that list
of banned countries along with the likes of Afghanistan, Libya, North Korea,
Cuba, Iraq, Pakistan, Haiti, Zimbabwe and a number of other Third World
countries.
To appear on that list is embarrassing internationally, but
it should be embarrassing to us as well. Whatever we think individually about
the emotive issue of immigration, we should all agree the exploitation of
others is morally wrong and if the Cayman Islands is to be considered a
civilised country, we should enact legislation that protects all workers here,
Caymanian or otherwise.
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Dear Mr/Ms Editor, This country has to focus on their own employment issues.
Furthermore, if workers are hired and imported and exploited as you say In order to survive on their very low wages in an expensive jurisdiction like the Cayman Islands, many people from these poor countries have to live in some of Grand Cayman’s most decrepit housing, or by sharing an apartment with 10 or more people. This is an Immigration issue. The Accommodation Sheet that is submitted with the work permit application clearly requires you to tell the truth about how many people will be sharing the residence with you including the rooms etc. So if that information is fabricated and false when the application is submitted to Immigration, why don’t they send their enforcement officers out to investigate the living conditions of these expatriate workers. The worker may not be aware of the laws and policies tied into that work permit application, but the employer certainly does because they are asked to sign that form and to give Immigration Permission to inspect the accommodations provided for that worker.
So the bottom line on that is that employers are clearly lying on their applications and Immigration is overlooking it, which is normal way they go about putting their policies in to action.
Additionally, Landlords should also inspect their rental properties regularly to see if infact the numbers that should be living in their rental is on par with the Immigration Requirements.
Immigration, Employers and Landlords are to blame!! They have had it too easy, and they have allowed ‘communal living’ to breed in our country, and all that is doing is making residential neighbourhoods devalue and degrade because of it.
Don’t blame the expatriate worker, blame those I mentioned above, whom are not doing their jobs.