Please allow me space in your newspaper to voice my opinion on some very important issues, which are of concern to the Caymanian people.
First I would like to state that I am so thankful that the issue about dredging in the North Sound has been cancelled. The reef was put there for a very important reason. I know when one could not even touch a piece of coral. Whose ever idea it was, I’m pleased to know that he or she has been educated about the importance of the reef. Thank God.
Another major issue is that of placing a dock in the district of East End, which is one of the most sweet and uncommercialised places on the Island. I am sure that the people of East End do not need and do not wish for the type of the activity that this project will bring with it.
Also, it is my understanding that someone has the idea of buying a part of our public road, namely on Seven Mile Beach. The Seven Mile Beach Road is not for sale.
Every establishment in this area has proper access to its property. Also, I would like to know how we can gain more beach? Are we importing sand? More facilities if needed could be provided by the foreign investors. They are coming here, but not donating as much as they should to the communities.
What we are experiencing here is outsiders because they have money trying to destroy our Islands.
What the Government has to do is when an idea surfaces the Caymanians need to be consulted and have their input. The legislators need to consult the people in each of the districts. The way government business is handled at present is totally unacceptable. Demonstrations must not be necessary. We do not need to be like other countries. I pray to God that this idea will be scrapped immediately. The legislators do not own the public road or the beach. We have been driving on this road from Day One and as for the tourists, I am sure that they would love to be able to drive down or up Seven Mile Beach Road – all of it. We will not be gaining anything. We will not give in to this scheme.
Anyone that has a problem with this should look to purchase property elsewhere as we will not allow this. Caymanians are nice, friendly people, but we will not allow foreigners to take advantage of our Islands.
Concerning a cruise ship landing, I must say that it would be more convenient for the tourists, but remember the owner of the tenders will not have their business, which I believe has several Caymanian employees. The people building the dock will only be bringing in more people here and I believe we are already outnumbered. Also, no Caymanians will be employed in this project. Hopefully other destinations have these facilities, but it is not wrong to be different.
We do not have to be just like the rest of the world.
Last, but not least, I would like to see more participation from local and off-shore businesses in regards to the youths of these Islands. For example, a scholarship from each one, apprenticeship programmes, training our Caymanian youths to take over the jobs being held now by ex-pats. Government should require these investors to contribute financially and socially to our Islands.
Thank you for allowing me space to voice my opinion.
Dora Ebanks
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I agree with you on many issues.
The first priority of the Cayman Island govrrnment should be, and I believe is, the well being of the Caymanian people.
NORTH SOUND
The proposed North Sound dredging was always a bad idea. Especially as I doubt mega yachts would visit. To get here they must make a long detour round Cuba. Much nicer for them to island hop in the Bahamas.
EAST END PORT
Likewise the East End port. Too much driving big semis on narrow roads.
PUBLIC VOTES
Regarding your wish for a public vote on things. As a democracy the Cayman Island people elect representatives to make choices for them.
WEST BAY ROAD
The Dart Corporation is not being given a public road. In return for being allowed to move the road back from the beach, they are extending the bypass road into West Bay. This is something the government had wanted to do for years, but cannot afford.
Yes the West Bay Rd has been there for years, but with growth came the realization that it is too narrow and in the wrong place.
CRUISE DOCK
When I moved here 30 years ago, no cruise ships came here and Georgetown was a real capital rather than one big jewelry store.
Much nicer.
However now much of the economy is cruise ship based. Have you ever stood in line for an hour in the rain to get back on your cruise ship? No. Then try an experiment. Fly to Miami and go on a one week cruise including Grand Cayman as a port. See what it is like from the tourists point of view.
And what will happen if Cuba becomes a port of call for USA ships?
How many cruise ships will drop Grand Cayman in favor of Cuba?
EDUCATION
I agree 100% with better education for Caymanian people. There should be government subsidized secondary education.
But what would happen if every ex-pat left tomorrow?
The government would go broke!
Each foreigner working here pays a work permit fee. Example to employ a legal secretary earning say 40,000 a year the employer pays a work permit fee of 10,000.
Every ex-pat here paying a work permit fee is directly subsidizing the Cayman people. And they aren’t even allowed to send their children to public schools. A policy which sadly prevents better integration and understanding between Caymanian and ex-pat children.
Employers pay no work permit fee to employ a Caymanian.
If only Caymanians worked here the government would have to find another way to raise the money they would lose. By taxing Caymanians!
Excellent points…
Most of which I agree with.
One other view point to one of yours, if you will allow me.
You’ve clearly pointed out the monetary benefits of the expatriate work permit system to the government’s revenues.
We all know that this is the case but…
Have you factored in the monetary and societal costs of not having enough Caymanian legal secretaries, bookkeepers, accountants, hotel workers, security officers, gardners, etc etc. ?
Or having those qualified Caymanians in any of those and any other professions and occupations unemployed in favour of a permit-paid expatriate ?
The costs are now being felt in many ways, including what economic crime is costing the entire society because of people not being employed and either committing these crimes themselves or supporting and benefitting from those that do.
Factor in also the monetary benefits that the social services support system is now paying out to support unemployed Caymanians and you might find that any profit to the government from work permit fees are being eroded by the costs of unemployment.
If there was to be a work-related tax then let every employee need a work permit, both expatriate and Caymanian.
I’m sure many unemployed Caymanians would pay for their own work permit if it guaranteed them a job instead of an expatriate who is guaranteed a job because his permit has been paid for.
It is also morally criminal if one single Caymanian who is qualified in any area and is actively seeking employment is overlooked and denied because his competitor for that job is an expatriate who will bring the government a work permit fee and is chosen for that job on that basis alone…and I am sure that you cannot say that these cases do not exist because I have been one of them.
Until the Cayman Islands weans itself off this work permit system, it is only going to prove to be a negative, divisive and very unprofitable method of raising government revenues now and in the future.
It might also very well lead to such social unrest that the entire Caymanian society will be disrupted and from that, no one will benefit, either Caymanian or expatriate.
Alright, enough.
If there are enough QUALIFIED Caymanians in the work force. NO BUSINESS IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD PAY FOR A WORK PERMIT FOR A FOREIGNER. It’s not just the high permit fees that cost the business too much money. They also have to jump through permit forms hoops. Immigration hoops, issues and forms. They also have to risk that this expat might not actually be able to do the job even though on paper he looks qualified. To hire an expat is a HUGE undertaking and huge RISK. WHY would they bother going through ALL OF THAT. When they could hire a Caymanian who can start the next day. Give me a break on the qualified Caymanian drama.
What the heck do people not understand about this?
It’s always nice to comment expats take the jobs away. Sounds good for your the cause right?
But when in reality. It’s a lie.
It’s because those business’s can’t find qualified Caymanians. They often look for months at a time for a qualified Caymanian. And can’t find a qualified one. What do you do? Run understaffed until much of your staff starts to quit, or morale plunges and effects the business, to the point it goes under? would you all be happy with that?
Instead of making these stats up. Ask a business owner. Stop listening to peter, paul and joe know-nothing
And why can I say all this? Because it’s FACT!
I speak to business owners. And the number one thing that comes out of their mouths is. I don’t like paying permit fees, or I really can’t afford permit fees, but I have no choice. I cannot find a Qualified Caymanian. Or I hire a Caymanian, and a month later, I have to fire them, because they either don’t show up for work, or they are late consistently, or just don’t bother doing any work. Now have this happen to you 2 or 3 times. You want someone that is going to do the work and stick around.
Lets face reality here. Stop with the expats take our jobs. The reality is. If there were qualified Caymanians for these positions. They would get the jobs. End of story.
After reading some many comments from Caymanian regarding Expat and foreign investors I think the Government should really consider giving the people what they want. They should even if it’s just a trial do the following.
1.Abolish the Work Permit System, and no longer allow foreigners to work on the Island.
2.Allow only Caymanians to buy property or homes.
3. Cleanse the population of foreigners and allow only Caymanians to live on the island
4.Allow Only Caymanians to operate businesses.
5.Abandon all development ideas that require foreign investment and would be foreign owned.
6.Allow only development that is paid for and owned by the CIG or Caymanian Developers.
These are basically the things that I see Caymanian people asking for so I think it would be a good idea to give them what they want. Things may just work out and before you know it the Caymanian people will all be prosperous after all from what I read the cause of the current situation such as unemployment is all due to having so much outside influence on the island so maybe it’s time for Cayman to go at it alone.
@ firery
I agree. As I said before there should be better secondary education for Caymanians.
I doubt if qualified Caymanians are not getting jobs just so an ex-pat can get it.
From a business point of view it would be lunacy for a law firm, for example, to give a job to an ex-pat legal secretary if they could employ a qualified Caymanian secretary and save 10,000 per year.
But even Caymanian owned law firms do exactly that.
Likewise they could save some 50,000 per year employing Caymanian hedge fund or trust law experts.
The fact remains that the 10,000 paid in work permit fees for that legal secretary is about enough to pay for the annual education of a Caymanian student at a school her own children are not allowed to attend.
Without her that education cost would have to be found elsewhere.
Big Berd
Good points, well taken.
I’m no longer in the Cayman labour pool so I can’t say from personal knowledge what the situation is now, apart from what I read in the media.
What I do know is that Caymanian unemployment is now running around something like 7% officially; my estimated figures are soemwhere in the region of 3 – 4, 000 people; please correct me if I’m off target here.
Do all these people fall into the unqualified and unemployable category then ?
The CI Govt has admitted that this is one of the highest ever rates of unemployment in recent memory.
Have you ever spoken to any of these unemployed Caymanians and gotten their side of the story as you have spoken to business owners ?
I can refer to a number of personal experiences where an employer was willing to pay those permit fees for other reasons than what it would cost their pockets rather than hire me for the job; one of those reasons was that their chosen candidate was from the same country as them and they simply saw a Caymanian candidate for the position as representative of an us vs them situation.
There are many business people and employers who make that decision to pay work permit fees for other reasons than economic costs and unfortunately the adversarial position between expatriates (foreigners) and Caymanians is one of those reasons.
There are also many work permits granted by the Immigration/WP board because that is a Govt dept and know that they need to keep the revenues coming in to ensure their own jobs and salaries.
This is a complex situation that is not always clearly defined by the issue of the cost of work permits for employers only.
Firery, what do you thnk the outcome would be if the CIG were to stop allowing businesses to hire EXPAT worker and no longer issues work permits ?
NJ2Cay
Thanks for asking the question.
I have an honest answer for you.
I am one of the most objective, neutral people you will ever meet; that means that I’m completely non-partisan.
I have never voted and don’t ever intend to and that makes me persona non grata amongst my own Caymanian people.
My solution is and has always been this…
Introduce a Greeb Card-type residency immigration system for Cayman and integrate the expatriate work force who wish to remain in Cayman and build a new Caymanian nation of people with who are already there.
What you have now is two sets of people who love Cayman equally but who are being divided and kept apart for the use and enrichment of the political clique that controls them, both Caymanian and expatriates.
This entire system is only geared to exploit the majority for the minority of puppeteers that are pulling the strings.
Does this answer your question as to what would happen if the work permit system were to be changed and why changes are not being considered ?
I hope that it does…
It should also answer the question why people like myself, a born Caymanian…
Will never be safe living in the Cayman Islands of today.
I hope that my answer has helped you in some way.
To address you Firery. The only friends I have are Caymanian.
And not one of them, has ever said, they were outted from a job, by a foreigner. Because the Caymanian’s I know, are all hard working, and they are loyal to their jobs.
I know of a Caymanian friend who has had 6 jobs in one year. Want to know why? Becuase he goes to work for a month, gets his first pay check then doesn’t show up for work for 2 weeks, until he is broke then shows back up at work.
Now I am not saying that’s everyone. But there are a lot out there, that have no loyalty to the jobs they work at. They just show up for a paycheck.
The majority of unemployed Caymanians are low skilled labour. The ones with upper skills, that are unemployed are unemployed due to roll over. Ain’t that a kick in the pants. And I will explain why. The recent roll over and the last government in power, caused the crash in economy.
Business’s flew off this island, very fast.
See it’s a double edged sword. Expats create jobs for Caymanians. They truly do. A majority of business’s on the island are foreign owned. Look at hedge funds for example. They create jobs for both Caymanian and Expat people. But you squeeze this type of company Financially, and force them to hire people who are not qualified. They would rather leave and go elsewhere. Then have their business’s ruined. And they have. So not only do you force 10K expats off the island, you force pretty much an equal amount of Caymanians out of work too. (see your unemployment theory)
These expats spend money. Creating jobs and opportunities for Caymanians to start their own business’s.
It’s very simple. Cayman was working before they created and finally enforced this roll over policy. There was hardly any Caymanian unemployed. They enforced the roll over policy and we have an economic crisis. Argue with that. You can’t!
I don’t know how much more obvious of a connect the dots do you have to make this situation?!
Basic Keynesian economics. And the government has played with the pyramid and it’s come crashing down on them.
Berd
My own background in Cayman has me very aware of the history of how and why things have come to the point that they have done.
My last professional job in Cayman was at one of the world’s most reputable and international companies that employ professionals from the world over so I know this situation from on the inside.
I find it funny that you only have Caymanians friends, if I am to take your words literally.
I would think that a person of your depth of knowledge and awareness would have a broader slate of friends, the Cayman Islands being the multi-national society that it is.
I have never ascribed to this Caymanian/expatriate division in my own personal social relationships and number my friends in hundreds, of numereous nationalities, spread around the world; some of them from university days and many of them formed through work relationships right there in Cayman.
My slate of friends include my Caymanian friends, whom I do not differentiate; they are all my friends.
I try to bring a balanced viewpoint to this debate because there is little balance to anything in Cayman and if this does not change, it will eventually destroy the country.
I neither support the work permit system or the rollover policy as they are both divisive methods of controlling the immigration and labour systems, which are obsolete and outdated and are more geared engender political support rather than address the real problems.
A Green Card residency system with quotas, a period of qualification and a sizable one-time fee for application is my solution to Cayman’s immigration and labour issues.
It would also bring native Caymanians and their new neighbours more in integration because they would all be members of one country striving for one common purpose.
This present system is now working and will continue to work for no one except those who are milking it for its financial benefits to themselves.