Ozzie: Caymanians strangers in own country
Osbourne Bodden, Minister of Community Affairs, Youth and Sports, in the Legislative Assembly
(CNS): The community affairs minister described Caymanians as being strangers in their own land who are mistreated in the business environment by expatriate bosses who don’t care about their advancement or the successful development of the country. One of many MLAs who spoke on a private member’s motion last week in the parliament calling for a legislative review to remove stumbling blocks to Caymanian development, especially in the offshore sector, Osbourne Bodden said he believed locals were suffering in a discriminatory, foreigner-dominated, commercial environment.
In a speech that took aim at his own government’s policies and sounding more like an opposition member than a government front-bencher, Bodden implied that the current Cabinet in which he serves was not tackling the fundamental problems, and even that his own ministry had not come to grips with the challenges of poverty.
Clearly at odds with the premier’s position that business is not all bad, Bodden told his colleagues in the LA that, as community affairs minister, he saw how local people suffer every day because they cannot get jobs and are marginalised by expat bosses when they can.
“When people come here they come here to look out for themselves and come to make a living. It is not in their interest to look out for us,” he said, as he accused those in the more recent wave of expat immigration of being entirely short-term in their outlook.
The minister warned of growing social decay because of foreigners in senior positions, here for a good time before moving on, who are blocking the upward mobility of capable local workers, who are “busting their heads on a concrete ceiling”.
Bodden said he was seeing people’s pain every day.
“Right now, as the minister in charge of social services, I see the pain and deal with the pain, day in and day out, of our people without jobs, without food on their table, can’t pay bills,” he said. “I‘m not blaming it all on the people who come here — don’t get me wrong — but I am saying there is hurt in this country; there are people who need jobs,” he said, adding that not all the unemployed were unemployable.
Good employees were being made redundant and were unable to find work again, he said.
“Why is this? They have done nothing wrong but work hard … and given good service …. but these new folk that come now don’t know them,” Bodden told MLAs, implying that the increase in the number of expat workers was enabling them to push out Caymanians.
“The Caymanian is a stranger in his own country,” he said. “That’s a very dangerous road to go down on.” Saying that local people should be allowed to make a living, he said, “We need to see more locals at the table, not under it waiting for the crumbs.”
The minister said the Dart Group was “gobbling up the most talented Caymanians” and queried why other major businesses were not doing the same. He asked why those not supporting locals wanted to live behind bars and alarm systems and have “our people robbing and burglarising the place down” because they were not being given a chance.
“Our laws say clearly what it is — Caymanians first,” he said. “I don’t know if we need to change the name back to the Caymanian Protection Board …Would that make a difference?” he asked, claiming that since it became the immigration board, everything “went upside-down”.
The minister said again that government should not be balancing the budget on the backs of future generations of workers with work permit fees. Permits should not be granted with the frequency that they are and bosses should be encourage to pay locals more and stop importing cheap labour, he said, as he pointed to the growing poverty in the Cayman Islands.
“We can’t have it to where social services is bursting at the seams because you have too much poverty in county. Right now it is at bursting point and we have to do everything we can to reduce the volume of spending in this area,” Bodden said about his own portfolio.
“People who come here these days don’t have a clue where the Cayman Islands came from,” he said, comparing them to those that came in the early years who meant well and helped the development. “There are people who come here today purely for selfish reasons and they could really care less. They are here for the buck … and what it offers them.”
“Something is wrong and Caymanians hear it. We feel the suffering. We have to change the way we are going about things,” he said, adding that if the business community, and the legal profession in particular, did not do it voluntarily, government would have to mandate it, as he challenged the idea put forward by the premier that putting pressure on businesses would drive them away.
“We have a good product but if we don’t take care of the people they are going to mash up the product,” he said, as he called on the business community to take care of and promote local workers.
The minister said the country needed to pause as Cayman had developed so quickly that it had left people behind, but he suggested it was not too late. The minister said he would fight for the people. Expecting he would be “”beaten to death” in the press for what he said, Bodden lamented why defending “your own yard” should get him “beat up”.
Bodden suffered public condemnation some twelve months ago in the ‘Ozziegate scandal’, when he had a very public and abusive confrontation with his former chief officer, Jennifer Ahearn, when he was the health minister. Bodden referred to the senior civil servant, who is Caymanian but originally from Canada, as a “piece of f^*!ing driftwood” during a row over a telephone bill.
Category: Politics
Quick government! Grant status to another 10,000 people. Then Caymanians can be in the majority again! Idiots!
The laws and regulations established to give some security of employment to Caymanians are being totally disregarded by the Immigration department. No wonder when our well paid premier has indicated Managerial permits will create low level jobs for Caymanians….not to mention higher permit fees. Is this a case where Caymanians that have like to keep Caymanians that need down? I’ve seen many Caymanian employers and management that benefited from the laws ignoring them now.
This was the most amusing statement:
“When people come here they come here to look out for themselves and come to make a living. It is not in their interest to look out for us,”
Given that this individual looks to just the same thing to expats.
Ossie has sounded the clarion call of the mediocre of the nation to blame others for their own limitations. To paraphrase Frank, if a Caymanian can’t make there they can’t make it anywhere. Call up Rooster, you have nothing to lose except whatever shred of dignity you have remaining.
And when the evidence shows that some businesses have been knowingly misleading regulators to hire personal friends from overseas instead of fairly considering Caymanians for opportunity? What would you say then?
Obviously that happens but I dare say part of the issue is that people feel they can count on their friends from back home. With our perpetually unemployed types, not so much…
Go complain about your imaginary issue to Immigration. Heard it from your cousin’s neighbor in Kirk’s?
I would say that the local regulators are also, at best, mediocre.
Politicians should be spreading the message…Education, education education.
And truth in advertising and immigration applications and truth in advertising and immigration applications and truth in advertising and immigration applications…
Ozzie stay off Alden back or you will find yourself at the wrong end of the cow cod this Christmas, Remember Alden is a farmer and have lots of cows.
Ah, yes!
This is the CNS we know and (don’t) love.
I see the fraudulent anti-bigotry campaigners (gay couple issue) are back to their usual roles.
Contrast these sentiments with those of just 2 days ago one would think the CNS readership is suffering from ‘severe acute mass dementia’.
– Who
No, because they are different things, Troll.
How so? Is bigotry not the (alleged) common denominator in both threads?
Oh, sorry. You and your supporters will not recognize the bigotry in this current thread because you genuinely believe the sentiments you are expressing and endorsing.
That, my friend(s), is the epitome of bigotry.
– Whodatis
E.g. I am yet to meet a self-described racist in my life, but I have witnessed racism on a regular basis …as have all of you.
Anyway …let the band play on eh?
A period living in Cayman can make you a bigot. So what if I am a bigot at some things and not for others. Still makes the bigotry wrong on both issues. Not sure what your point is.
Re: “A period living in Cayman can make you a bigot.”
My friend, the core culture of many self-described “progressive” countries is bigotry (and racism). The problem is, when one is born into and brought up in a particular culture, one tends to not see the truth that surrounds and is one.
– Who
🙂
exactly Who, you tends to not see the truth that surrounds and are one.
describes you perfectly, self reflection at last
Gay people are gay they are because they were born that way. Caymanians are in the situation they’re in because they made it that way.
One is not in a person’s control, while one is entirely in your control (Cayman government issuing work permits, no one else).
Also, please refer to comment by anon 11:51.
I agree. Caymanians should stop dealing with foreigners all together: close all foreign companies here, stop dealing with foreign clients, and stop importing all these damn foreign goods. We as Caymanians need to revert back to the good old days – without those foreigners!
Go ahead, knock yourself out.
There is NO foreign company in this country. The law stipulates 60% Caymanian ownership. They are condemning themselves
There are many foreign companies in this country. Many companies fall outside the LCCL regime and many of those that fall within it have LCCL licences and so do not require 60% Caymanian ownership. Do yourself a favour and educate yourself before commenting.
There are not very many LCCL’s – they are not that easy to get. Those that fall outside LCL need 60% Caymanian partners unless they are setting up in CEC.
It sounds like Alden’s babbling about the need to cease anti-expat rhetoric fell on deaf ears with Ozzie. Gotta love it! When Alden overlooked Oz’s disrespectful rant at a subordinate a while back, he should have had the good sense to realise then that Oz was out of control. Perhaps this latest diss will cause Alden to wake up, smell the dammed coffee, and grow some bollocks and reign in his mad dog. I doubt it because Alden clearly lacks bollocks. How can we have confidence in a so-called leader who commands so little respect from a subordinate?
If one of Alden’s own cabinet ministers has no respect for him, how the hell can Alden expect us to have any? It is pretty clear now that all those who have said Alden is a poor leader are spot on correct. Clearly Alden has lost control (if he ever had any to begin with). Oz just flipped him the finger. I love it. Oz has now twice shown us what a spineless impotent wimp Alden really is. A pretty boy who is all talk, no substance, less action.
Now when Alden speaks of “the government that I lead” we can rightly say that he is just spewing empty tripe. Lead? Ha! What a joke!
This latest from Oz will certainly serve to show the expat business community and potential expat investors Alden’s government’s true colours. It will further erode investor confidence and call into question Alden’s government’s ability to maintain a stable business environment that appreciates the importance of inward investment.
Ok, Alden, Oz put the ball back in your court yet again. Stop spinning it on your finger like a prissy little showoff, grow some ‘nads and show us some pro-active leadership rather than continuing to play cheerleader.
Alden might not speak the anti-expat rhetoric but he most certainly acts it. As an expat who has on a couple of occasions tried to make topical conversations with him at rallies he supported, I can honestly say that on both occasions he met me, a female, with nothing but scorn and one of those up and down “who the F*** are you” looks that we all know so well, and rather than hold a discussion was quick to snap and show annoyance at me and walk away.
I have come across no better treatment from Mr Connolly, Mr Roy Bodden, Mr Miller, Ms. Rivers (who just completely ignored me) and Mr McLean.
I wouldn’t mind, but on each occasion I was merely making polite and pleasant conversation and supporting them. I wasn’t expecting any special treatment but did expect them to at least be civil.
So it seems to me whilst the are happy to take business and work permit fees, we expats are most definitely NOT welcome.
Where is Eden? this is a great chance for more hate speech. The bible clearly states that we should treat foreigners in our own land as we treat our own. but not a word from him
Eden showing a lack Christian beliefs again. If he believed the good book is God’s word on earth, he would be standing up for the rights of foreigners as God clearly tells him to in the bible.
Just shows his spiteful hate towards the LGBT community is nothing to do with any christian beliefs he must be pretending to have
The Good Samaritan was part of the touchy-feely New Testament spouted by that Jesus chap. Eden’s Christianity seems to be based on the hard-line angry Old Testament and he seems to like it that way. Plus it would get in the way of votes. And that would not do. Votes are what pay the bills.
You need medical help Leave well alone your kind we don’t need go where you are welcome sick and tried of you’ll wanting law change for you While we as Caymanian can’t demand any country to change it laws for us
Well said Homer Simpson.
More home schooled than Homer. If the home in question was a cave.
Mr. Eden defended the beliefs of a majority of caymanians. Keep your vitriol against him up there in the UK or wherever you are.
We are not fooled by the bloggers on this website who are promoting their sinful agenda. Keep it in your country.
So you only want to follow the Bible’s teaching when it suits your purpose, otherwise it is sinful to follow the bibles teaching about the treatment of foreigner in your country.
Nice argument, now that sounds like local Christianity, only looking out for oneself
Except it was his opinion, and not that of the majority.
Eden is a man of honour. Let me remind you that when you go to Rome you do as the Romans do. Jesus came to this earth and he refused to bow by the laws of the land which was contrary to his will. Remember he told them to render the things that are Cessars unto Cessar and the things that are God….unto God.
In addition, God himself showed that there are rules that must be adhered to at home. When Adam and Eve went against his specific rules he kicked them out of his house/the Garden of Eden. Likewise, anyone who come to our country and can not abide by our rules we should do exactly as God did. Kick them out. To make myself clear, I am referring to those persons who want the country to disregard the words of God to support their ungodly acts which were the same ones that God destroyed Sodom for. For God sake. Wake up people. God says what he means and means what he says. That is not hate speech at all. God does not hate any of us but he certainly hate our sins. That is simply what Eden was pointing out.
The bible states to treat foreigners in your country as if they were your own, and you are acting against Gods word, so it is you working against God.
So Ozzy is then acting in contradiction from the bible.
Because you are God and you think you have a right to pass judgment on people as only he has the right to do?
You won’t be getting through no pearly gates mate!
If he stood up in England and said all this racist propaganda he would be thrown out the house,
Actually no. His speech is entirely lawful in a small Island context – and so analogies to a developed country of 60+ million with only a few percent of its population foreign born and culturally different from its citizens is not only wrong, but stupid.
His speech was also quite appropriate, and possibly long overdue, given what is in fact happening in our community.
Um, white expat Caymanian here 30 years and married to a white collar 6th generation family. What the !&/@ is racist you moron? You think Caymanians are black? Duh. We truly come in all shades my friend. This ain’t no black or white thing! This is simply pressuring to promote and finally enforce our law.
Let’s look at it in the best way: if we actually hire locals who apply first we will be forced to accept their talents and if locals are lacking we will have to educate and advance their skills. Sounds like a winner to me!!! Instead of closing that glass door and greasing the corrupt Business Staffing Board, let’s make ALL immigration meetings PUBLIC and force the government to improve schools (overnight clean out)
This being said, our own people need to (in turn) eliminate the 10 day sick law and get the entitlement chip off our shoulders. I’m 100% pro- hire local, but also want that work ethic too.
The worst offender is Franz and we need to start with the Govt IT, Accoutning, Legal to promote our own.
However, one place where I’d like to see high paid (10% over global best) is Dept of Edu. Recruit the very best teachers, kick out our bloated Admin, and make PARENTS accountable for education
Making parents accountable for their child’s education is all well and good in an ideal world where all parents care about their child’s education and they are educated themselves. We need to accept that some parents ( not just in Cayman) are struggling themsleves and do not know what it means to be a good parent, so holding them accountable is just not possible. We need to stop moaning about the parents and think of a soloution.
Educated, professional people should be held accountable for the education of the children in this country. Including politicians first, principals second and finally the teachers themselves. Under performing teachers need to have support and training to improve and if they continue to underperform they need to be replaced. But that doesn’t happen here. A teacher is sometimes hired for convenience because they are available, not because they are necessarily any good.
But he would wear a crown in heaven. So choose he this day whom you will service. Should it be God or Man and don’t talk about the UK. God help us if we are to follow them.
I don’t think your God will crown him in heaven but Satan might throw him a thorn crown, and God will cast him out (just as you cast the LGBT community out) for taking it upon himself to judge when that job belongs to one and only one man – GOD! People we might disagree, we might not like something but NOTHING gives us the right to judge another man, only our own sins.
Don’t tell me there is nothing in the bible to back this up – because this is one theme that is REPEATEDLY throughout the entire book. Judge not yet ye be judged.
Go home Andrew! This ain’t England some of you chumps ought to remember that!
These issues will continue to behoove our small island Nation for as long as we allow foreigners to run our immigration department and establish our laws.
What the hell are you talking about. What evidence of this?
Island honey….take your head out the sand man and look around you.
Y did you thumb down yaad fowl? You didn’t want that out to the naive Caymanians, fearing they will protest and most you will lose that connection and control une got in our country?
The only nationality running immigration and establishing laws are Caymanians, born and bred son of the soil ones at that. Get your head out of your a**.
your immigration department and MLA law makers are all Caymanian, but keep on trying to blame everyone else but yourselves for your perceived problems
I do not think that word means what you think it means…
The truth hurts and it’s a shame a man cannot stand in the LA of his own country and state the facts. The premier needs to stop sticking his head in the sand and see that his people are being discriminated in the work place. It’s a struggle out here. I dare him to check the stats and see how many caymanians are business owners in the last few years. This will give a true indication how is people are progressing.
Maybe you’re not progressing and you need to progress
The problem is the Caymanian voting public has continually been offered useless self-serving fools to choose from. The education system is in deplorable shape and pretty much everything else can be traced back to poor education or the “Elephant in the room”. By the way the Elephant is named corruption. Follow the money and let’s see what the hell happened with the schools etc. and let’s build a bigger prison with a new win for the politicians and white-collar criminals round here!
Ozzie if you think Caymanians are strangers in their own country now what do you think will happen when you have the CBF built with massive ships dumping 30,000 passengers per day on our shores? Real geniuses that is what our politicians are. Press ahead with projects that have huge societal consequences and then complain about the effects of their own actions. You couldn’t make this crap up. Think of all the permit holders required to build the docks, then once that has finished think of all the low paid expats required to work in the stores and restaurants to service the cattle dumped on our shores by the massive ships. It will be like the 2003 status grants – a wrong perpetrated on Caymanians by the very people they elected, with permanent consequences for Caymanian society. Ozzie you and your ilk are responsible for the mess that Cayman’s society is in today – blaming businesses will solve nothing.
7:14 be damn if you do and be damn if you don’t. Not everyone will be pleased at any given time or on any specific Topic. Get over it!
This island is full of morally bankrupt parasitic expats. If you are offended you are probably one of them. There are also a number of morally sound expats who contribute positively to Cayman. As there are good and bad Caymanians.
But regardless things have gone too far. Educated hard working Caymanians are blocked by people faking accents and pretending the are all high and mighty when in reality they come from some backwater town with little real experience and washed out where they are from. Look at the arrogance of the expats posting in here. The previous poster is right. Change is coming.
Must not feel good to not even be able to compete with washed up losers. Sad.
BOOM!!!
Hit them with the knowledge son! I am with you!
This is exactly the sort of angry person with a chip on the shoulder that I expect a good HR department to do everything to filter out from a job application process. One they are in they are trouble, moan at not being promoted, write to immigration and always sue for an extra pay-off when they take their chip elsewhere.
These expats have no heart.
The University of Edinburgh is a single step below Ox-bridge and the US Ivy Schools, but costs a Caymanian 1820 GBP (about 2250 KYD) per year. Many other schools are available to Caymanian passport holders at this price if you can look beyond Florida
Many young Caymanians are just looking for a degree of some sort in order to get better work. They have no concept of scholarship or academic curiosity. Florida suits their goals, and is handy for family to come back-and-forth. Other more scholarly students do attend more far-flung and better Universities, but often end up employed outside of Cayman because they’re building careers and reputations.
Then, once they return to Cayman, they can command the good jobs.
It is one thing to attend some crap Florida college for a couple of years, and another to graduate from a reputable institution where your intellect and work-habits have been tested.
Your one Govt leader attended a fake skool in florida and now he runs your island Over priced teenage drug center in Boca Raton
But there are plenty of less academic UK tertiary institution which Caymanians can attend fully funded by UK loans at a fraction of the cost of the Florida colleges. Why should the government spend a fortune because it is “handy”?
Shopping trips and the -itis.
Your rules, your government, your people, your mess.
At what point are Caymanians going to finally take responsibility for their own failures?
This problem is not unique to Cayman. The UK, the US etc all have similar stories to tell about migrant workers taking jobs that locals feel they should have. Every government in every country does what it can to protect its own citizens. So why don’t you stop speaking to us as if we are as backward as you are or perhaps you are too ignorant to tell that’s what youre doing. Its exactly this sort of talk that breeds resentment. You are here because there is an opportunity available to you better than in your own country!! Otherwise I assume you wouldn’t be in our country with our people and yes our rules. your extreme distaste for us comes across loud and clear. It would be useful if you wore a swastika so we could more readily identify you.
Excellent response.
well usually we are white or very dark or are you not able to tell your colors due to lack of education
Many of this day and age don’t actually see in color any more – just people like you infortunately
Nice Nazi reference. Godwin’s Law rules.
As per usual
Cop out…
Sound just like a lawyer. When the Government attempts to do something about it, the first thing you all do is threaten to fire Caymanians or pull up and leave- invoking the nuclear option just like the UK Government.
Someone needs to call your bluff but you all need to stop thinking that Caymanian = inferior. Why should you be induced or placated to do the right thing?
Now that’s responsible.
Yet another hypocritical whine from an over paid and under educated politician.
On top of his $10k a month government salary and all the perks that he can get his grubby, greedy hands on, he also runs a lucrative business employing low paid and poorly treated expats.
Why doesn’t he employ those drop outs that frequent his gas station forecourt instead if he’s so concerned about local unemployment, is it because they are unreliable, unemployable, untrustworthy, uneducated or just too expensive to employ?
Until Caymanians such as Bodden stop employing low paid workers en mass from third world countries, the credibility of their argument collapses at the first hurdle. But the fact is these people work hard and they return large profits for their employers.
It is the bottom line that counts here people and Caymanians are their own worst enemy when the dollar is in their sights.
You don’t know a f…k what you talking about, we got professional builders in this country, 32 of them that in the past, built every building on these three islands. I’m talking of companies with 34 to 40 years under their belt. And they can’t get a job , what Is your excuse for this?
Free market.
Oh, so it’s fine to use free market as an excuse for you all coming in here to push us Caymanian builders out of our opportunists,
you and your 12 thumb downs are just a bunch of opportunist, racist, riff raff who think you are better than the local builders, who have built this country long before you heard of Cayman, count your lucky stars when the next administration gets in.
Judging by your post, your attitude might be the thing losing you business – ever thought about that?
1.03, sounds like your grip of economics is as about as sound as Macs. And that, dear chap, is why Cayman is failing. That and education.
Dear chappy, 3:30, that same Mac is the one that opened our gates so you could come in here and take away from us what we enjoyed for many years until riff rafts lik you and your 6 Thumb downs.
We were able to have jobs…all of us, developers when came to our shores seeked us out to build their buildings, look around you and see what we accomplished before you came. Mac let you all in, the biggest mistake he ever made. Now you all spit in his face. Opportunist hypocrites.
A market is not a zero sum game. This sentence is beyond your understanding but it is why you are wrong.
Like the professional builders that cost $70,000,000 to build a $40,000,000 non functional school after the unprofessional builders got fired for asking to get paid? Did you not get the memo? No one told you yet? Why?
Hello 5:43 the government is not in our equation here they were the major problem. They gave the contract to a Canadian company Tom Jones, we the local builders never got any of that money or jobs. This is our gripe, we are being disenfranchised by the new comers, not because of what they know. Like an old friend of mine say, “all it takes for a white man to qualify is the colour of his skin…so true in Cayman.
And yet a Caymanian was in charge of that construction company. I think he had a position on a government board.
Then please explain why your own construction company bosses only employ the cheap labour from overseas. How many Caymanians are actually working on any construction site and where exactly is the Cayman Islands construction skills college?
Hmm, looks like you’ve answered your own question there buddy.
As I said, it’s the bottom line and you just can’t compete when placed on a level playing field because you got greedy.
6:29
You are a real joker!
Either you are being misinformed or you are part of the Caymanian problem. You are right to ask, where are the Caymanians on job sites, that’s my point we have been replaced by your kind. Oh, we have to now have college degree to compete with you all now? what a joke! Who built all these structures on thes islands before you came? Sounds like your all conspiracy telling the developers caymanians don’t have a college degree in skill just to capture all the jobs. You guys good at bad mouthing people to steel their opportunities.
Canadians, American, Scottish, have done just that, they have taken our jobs, they are the ones hiring Jamaicans and other workers from poor countries and pay them slavewages. Not Caymanians we don’t get the jobs you all stole from us.
Damn the thousands of Scots taking over Cayman!
THEY MAY TAKE OUR LIVES
but they will never take…..
OUR CAYMAN!!!!!!!!!
Lots and lots of Scots!
The free market
Not my building, I ended up doing it myself.
12:35 before you make such unpalatable comments, do some due diligence. Make it your business and ask the employees what they are being paid and you would be surprised. Too many know it alls that are only ready to castigate and tear down. Crab in a barrel mentality. Th real Caymanian.
Typical campaign warm up speeches design to make the voters side with him. Only sad thing is that it seems to work every time.
If you do nothing, say nothing, you are no good. When you do something, say something, you are making waves for yourself. What’s wrong with the majority of us,”caymanians”, we prefer to stretch our hands out to receive, rather than using our hands to earn. By the sweat of your hands, you shall eat bread. We are too envious against one another. There is no cohesiveness and too anxious to tear the other person down, that creates the abyss between the Caymanian and the expat.
This time it wil difinitly work, We are all fed up and will be backing Ossie side, no matter what!
No matter what?!?!?
Funny how Compass only prints this issue when it is in expats interest to try to tear down the issue and not when legitimate concerns are raised. Just another day in expat land where I am a foreigner in my own country…
Change is coming.
Unfortunately for you and your beautiful country I don’t think any change is coming.
This is the same BS rhetoric we hear every 4 years by bloated morons who are trying to scare you into voting for them while deflecting from the fact that they have done nothing to improve the situation in the 4 years they have been in power. Caymanians SHOULD be able to have an excellent standard of living, they SHOULD all be in well paid jobs, they SHOULD be at the highest levels in our industries. If they are not then we need to look at the REAL reasons they are not.
I have worked with many Caymanians over the years and who are fantastic workers – but being a good worker isnt enough if you don’t have the skills/training and education you need to be the best. The Cayman islands Government need to get off their soap box and address the lack of education and training. They need to support the education and training with appropriate social services (not based on political patronage).
It is not in an expat’s interest to live in a divided society or in one where lack of opportunity leads to poverty and crime. No one wants that – we are your friends not your enemies.
Yes, 12.14 lets hope the change is you get an education so you understand what the hell you are talking about.
And you wonder why no one will hire you?
12:14. I long await the day for the of them and us. Those who are being sidelined need to act NOW, and create history.
Caymanian. International degrees and experience. Successful only because I now live in California. Anyone who thinks the glass ceiling does not exist for Caymanians is wrong.
so you are stealing an unemployed American citizens job, nice
You seem fine with doing that
What choice do I have?
You sir are case and point.
You’ve all the choice in the world lad. YOU are the captain of your own ship.
12:10 pm you are smart! I’m the same here, and doing the same thing got a job offer overseas, and leaving! 🙂 Cayman has no opportunies for young educated caymanians! 🙂
1:07 same way how you come to Cayman and take jobs from us. Whatever expat. Yawns!!
It’s fine and should be encouraged. I wish there were more Caymanians like you. You are only doing the same as expats do to get by. It is good to use qualifications to experience living in other parts of the world.
1:07 doing exactly what you are doing here, only because of the difficulties caymanians are experiencing on there return from university, because of the likes of you. Criticised, demoralized and castigated in the work place, and released.
Gigot, pack your bag and haul ass.
And also there aren’t any Hooters in Cayman so you had to move.
Lots of hooters in Cayman mate; just not named hooters! LOL
Cayman is quite the “sin city”, minister Bodden knows this as does his constituents.
Ozzie, there were, at one time, a great many expats who called your island nation home. They wanted nothing more than to live life and enjoy being a part of what was Cayman. Then something changed. 2004 saw many expats who had been resident for years, who had built homes and businesses who had invested in Cayman and who stayed and helped rebuild your country only to get letters telling them they were required to leave and that this was in the “Best interest” of the nation.. Some like myself who has only recently departed but was a long time resident – and was “Pre-Ivan”..saw the rise of greed at higher levels within the government organisations we worked for, we fought against it, we spoke out against it and we were silenced.. in order to remove the squeaky wheel that would have raised suspicion that our managers were up to no good. We suffered threats, verbal abuse and physical abuse, while blind eyes were turned to the situation. What I encountered while trying to do my job and ensure that the people of Cayman were safe ranks lower than what one could expect in a third world nation.. and yet Cayman claims it is “First World”… After the dust settles now whenver the “New Expat” lands on island they soon hear about how Cayman doesn’t want them, hears and sees the abuse suffered by others – others who truly loved and still love YOUR country, while trying to ensure Cayman was and Caymanians came first… Do you honestly believe they will even consider anything more then collecting a paycheque and then going elsewhere – and taking that money with them?
I am Caymanian and work in the finance industry. Sadly, I agree with your statement. It was unfortunate that those expats amongst us from the earlier years, who kept their nose clean, respected Cayman as their home in spite of not being Caymanian and contributed freely to the Islands they considered home and not for points under the point system. They were forced out. We now have a new breed of expats who are on the path to status, who were not here during the days when you had to build up the Islands and the industry, and look down their noses at Caymanians and demand their ‘rights’ as guests to our home. I will say though that the minute they get status they are the first to demand their rights as ‘Caymanians’. Too late to cry over spilled milk I suppose.
What kind of jobs he is talking about. Can he be more specific? A partner in KPMG/law firm, vice president in a Bank or in constructions, hospitality?
Ranty, made up, fan the flames of racism, election is coming type of jobs.
All the above you moran. Don’t you think Caymanians are capable of holding those jobs? Perhaps you need to understand that Caymanians built this country. You are here to enjoy it. Otherwise you would not be here. So shut up or leave and never return.
Yeah, you moran!
If you are going to call someone a “moron” learn to spell the term first.
The attitude of “Caymanians” in the work place so many lamenting about isn’t a Caymanian issue and is something that happens the world over, especially with the younger generation. Whoever can’t accept it is in denial.
I work in the private sector and I have noticed a shift in attitude towards jobs on all levels and from all nationalities. Employees in this day and age are no longer loyal to their employers and why should they be? On Island, there are plenty examples of companies who have screwed their employees out of pension funds or provide the minimum health care and other benefits that are generally standard in other countries are non-existing. The labor/employment laws in Cayman suck and are truly that of a 3rd world country, yet everyone wants to have first class educated employees. There is no recourse for employees when they are being unfairly treated/paid/dismissed etc. because the labor department is a joke and absolutely powerless. Where I work, I have seen plenty people who have been laid off after 10/15/20 years of diligent employment. Cleary, if they would have sucked, the company wouldn’t have kept them on for that long. I agree that people should be doing their job to their best of their abilities and with much motivation, however, too many employers these days forget that they will get back what they put in.
11:07 am .You started on one point (Millennial Generation attitude) and switched to another. So is it employees or employers?
Ask a fool what he thinks and this is what you get. Only foolish people would think this man is smart.
All of this nonsense is the work of Caymanian decisions, your land, you sold it, you hired expats, you built businesses you make policies you make laws you lead your country you pass out status and passports etc….take some responsibility for you mess. A bunch of foolishness this is. If you don’t like what you created then changes it, its simple….. just change it and be prepared for those consequences. Every issue you confront is a an issue you created as a country, people and culture.
The “culture” you speak of is not Caymanian; but rather an adopted one from our very close brethren country. Sadly, the Caymanian culture is near dead. Our own have killed it, with no respect for the hard work of their ancestors and not sticking to a moral compass but rather a monetary one, we have lost the plot. Ivan came and stopped everyone and everything in it’s path, 6 months later people were more selfish and greedy than they ever were before. Ivan brought about a great many opportunities for businesses in these islands and yet so many have forgotten all of this. We can’t deny we need the expat community but what we need now more than ever is to unite as a people (Caymanians, residents and status holders) and stop playing crabs in a bucket because as long as we keep that up, NO-ONE gets anywhere.
Try love, acceptance, peace, benevolence…..
Let go of the hatred, greed, narcissism and bigotry….
You are right in saying that we need to change it. I am Caymanian who are married to a Caymanian. Even though I have many family members who are married to expats, I will tell you thst if I had the power to make a change, I would run 8 out of every 10 expats off the Island. People like the Premier is scared of his own shadow. He believes that any such change with drive business away. Like Ozzie I disagree with him. Like Ozzie I believe that when 8 leaves there will be a thousand lined up waiting to come here which will allow us to select new persons who will come here under new terms and agreements wherein they must employ and train Caymanians for all the jobs within his or her business. Most Politicians makes me sick. They are spineless. People like the Premier is trying to keep expats on the Island to provide income from rent for his friends, most of whom are foreigners that came here in the first place and built properties for rent.
Fire all your expat staff at you businesses and you helper and get Caymanians Ozzie.
10:23. Ask the ex-employees, why they are not working at the establishment and you should get a better understanding, if they are truthful. Do I have to say why. You get the drift?
he’s not that stupid!
Honestly, this debate is going around in circles and we can go at it until the cows come home. I still find it mind boggling that so many people are easily stroking all Caymanians with the same brush, as if lazy or uneducated people don’t exist in any other country. It would also be interesting to get clarity whether those Caymanians that so many say they do not want to hire includes the Caymanian status holder as there has been plenty debate in the past that there is no differentiation between a born and bred Caymanian or a status holder. You can’t have it both ways and differentiate when it suits and don’t want differentiation when it doesn’t suit, so I would be very,very careful with any generalizations.
Ozzie,
I feel lost as well when I go to your gas stn. I don’t speak Spanish bobo . Let’s be honest you don’t either.
But his wife is Honduran. He SHOULD speak the lingo.
Wouldn’t she be considered “drift wood” Oz?
You have no concept of driftwood.
3:52 Father 6th, 7th, generation CAYMANIAN. Twisted tongue, bias thoughts, stranger to the truth. Employees including caymanians on time.
There is a “wood” joke in there, but the picture it generates makes me feel quite ill. So I did not post it.
Bahahahahahaahahahhahhaahah