Public sector front-line workers to get bonus
(CNS): Government employees who have been working on the front line since the COVID-19 pandemic curfews were put in place will be getting a bonus. Premier Alden McLaughlin announced Friday that public sector workers will get a one-off payment of at least $1,000 for the extra work during the lockdowns, with those who were at high risk and working with COVID-positive people getting an additional $500.
In a prepared statement at Friday’s COVID-19 briefing, the premier outlined the work of public sector employees, the sacrifices they had made and the part they had played in keeping Cayman safe. He commended and thanked civil servants, describing many of the front-line government workers as “heroic”, before revealing the one-off payment for COVID responders in the public service.
“Government would like to recognise the remarkable effort by making a one-time honorarium payment for those who have borne the brunt of the COVID response,” McLaughlin said.
“Those public servants who helped to combat COVID-19 by delivering essential services during the height of the crisis will receive a one-off payment of $1,000. An additional payment of $500 will be made to those whose work in combatting the spread of the virus required them to work in the most hazardous conditions, including frequent contacts with high volumes of, or close contacts with, the persons known or suspected to be COVID positive,” he added.
Wishing it could be more, the premier said the money for this COVID bonus would come from the pre-existing government human resources budget as a result of savings made in some areas. He said the deputy governor and chief officers will manage the programme.
The premier gave a detailed review of how the government had navigated its way through the pandemic to this point and noted that it would not have been possible without the heroes on the front-line. He said that countries much larger that Cayman with greater resources and far more expertise have struggled to mount an effective response, as he commended the civil servants here that did manage to do what was necessary.
But he warned that, despite the suppression measure going down to level two, “we are not out of the woods yet”, as he urged government workers to keep up their good work keeping Cayman safe.
However, from Sunday morning at 4:30am, both the hard curfew and the shelter-in-place orders will be lifted. There will then be a new range of measures imposed regarding social distancing, gathering sizes, mask wearing and other protocols that will help people stay safe as society effectively reopens and many more people go back to work.
All of the new regulations are expected to be gazetted Friday night ahead of the move Sunday morning, 21 June, more three months after the lockdown, to Suppression Level 2.
See the full press briefing on CIGTV below:
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Category: Government Administration, Politics
In response to some of the commenters suggesting it is an employer’s right to give his employees a bonus. When an employer rewards his employees, its with his own money. The government is the employee of the people. The Minister of Finance, at a recent press conference, clearly articulated that the country is in dire financial condition and will be sending out an RFP for a $500 million dollar line of credit. And then the Premier arbitrarily gives out bonuses.
It is just wrong! It is not Alden’s money; it is the people’s money!!!
What Alden should have done if he wanted to reward civil servants who were doing their job, going home to the comforts of home, getting a good salary, was to take a pay cut and invite Cabinet to do so. And then share that up.
Even that would have been a shame considering the suffering that some sectors of the population are enduring.
He could also have reached out to CUC to identify customers who are in most distress and send a check from his pay cut to help out those customers.
So much he could have done—even if just a gesture.
We won’t learn from history, despite history being such an amazing teacher.
I am just laughing at these negative comments posted during office hours. I thought you guys in the private sector was busy working.
I am sure you are busy earning your bonus.
I am civil servant who just got home after spending the day helping private sector lawyers and admin staff understand how to do their job.
It is a pleasure to serve and I deserve my bonus.
I recently said the same thing. They can’t even do their job properly yet they clearly deserve everything they get. CIG Staff are left to spoon feed these people in private sector. Something as simple as guidance notes and FAQ’s is too difficult for them to follow so we are bombarded with 50 calls for ”Quick Questions” that last 30 mins per call.
I’m just sitting at home because I lost my job in week two of lockdown. I volunteered to help with food drives and would have gladly accepted any job if it meant an income, including frontline work. I wouldn’t have expected a bonus. I’m an expat so my options are now very limited. Before anybody tells me to go home if I don’t like it here. Please note that.
1. I do like it here. I love the Island, it’s people and the multiculturalism. Unfortunately your leader has been most insensitive towards the majority of ‘his people’ since the MoH trainergate fiasco. Particularly the ones who are suffering the most right now. I don’t include myself in this.
2. The bonuses aren’t the real issue. It’s the cherry picking of government ‘heroes’ and the timing that is insensitive. Particularly when there are still notable persons on the payroll who quite frankly should be in jail.
3. I’m a dependant. So I can’t leave unless my wife wants to quit her government job – she didn’t get a bonus by the way.
4. I’m not complaining. Just trying to show another perspective that this isn’t public v private sector or Caymanians v expats. My concern is that even when the premier does what he considers to be the right thing it is orchestrated with zero sensitivity and a sense of dictatorship that reflects a huge lack of understanding of real life for the majority of people living on island. He doesn’t get that some expats are not here for the money but mostly he doesn’t understand that some people, including ‘his’ people are in serious financial trouble right now. Rightly or wrongly his administration is responsible for these problems yet his first move is to reward people already earning money.
I can’t believe Compass’ propaganda level.
VSL explained??????????? Who came up with such a drivel???
Do they believe people in Cayman are uneducated fools needed such an explanation?
The Bill of Rights describe our already existing natural or self evident rights to be left alone. The Bill of Rights was designed to prohibit Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.
You, sir or madam, are incomprehensible. You must be either drunk or, more likely, illiterate. I respectfully suggest that you avoid keyboards until you can write something that makes sense.
To all the front line personnel and the government ..THANK YOU! Your actions and decisions have kept us safe from the deadly Covid 19. Some us can see and appreciate what is happening in the world and are thankful everyday for the safe bubble these Islands are. To all the critical fools that constantly post on here unjustifiably smashing the government and our civil servants… get a life!
You may as well thank God whilst you’re at it. He did just as much as the government because let’s face it it was either divine providence or pure luck. Pretty sure we imported most of the sources of covid despite closing our borders.
Let’s hope our brave postal workers are included in this handout.
Lol
And the Department of Tourism heroes.
The behavior of the Post Office throughout this crisis has been utterly disgraceful. Badly led, surly, teeth-kissing, entitled, idle wage-suckers, they should be moved over to the Museum as (barely) living examples of Cayman civil servants from the mid 1980s. Why did they even need to stop work?! Of all government departments, they could have isolated and carried on. Now we have a whopping backlog of mailbags for them to sit on and eat their patties and which they won’t clear before Christmas.They are totally unaccountable and thumb their noses at the rest of us. Oh and their “management” should be stopped from attending those ridiculous boondoggling postal conferences; in fact they should be moved on and the whole organization restructured from top to bottom.
PLEASE Mr Deputy Governor, do something about the Post Office! It’s a total embarrassment and a daily reminder of what it’s like to live in the third world.
#letsgopostal
You know what baffles me, none of us know what is going to be of cayman in 3 or 6 months. Will we have worse outbreaks as the borders open? Will we be faced with hurricane disaster and covid outbreak same time? And if either happen and we shut down again and front line workers are out there doing their job is he going to give them another bonus when that fire calms down too?
You know what thinking about this bonus the suggestion must’ve come from deputy governor as he is the head of civil service welfare. I can bet $10 it came from that Department.
Has Alden’s memory been short-circuited by his over excited neurons in his rush to self-praise?
He is acting as if this is such an unprecedented time time in our history.
When Hurricane Ivan went off like a nuclear bomb every civil servant worth his salt rose to the challenge of taking us through the initial emergency response phase and into the recovery. That went on literally for years. And don’t forget the shock of the event itself and its aftermath.
Most of us civil servants, if any, never even got thanks. Some of us in fact were scapegoated for the lack of proper planning for those above us.
None of us expected extra pay, that was our job—to serve the country, to bit by bit put the pieces back together.
We never expected nor did we get gratuities, although it would have been nice that when we could no longer tolerate the fifth of our apartments, front doors having buckled, admitting muddy, lashing waves, that the power of govt could be extended to help us secure accommodations, however modest.
Instead we hadn’t had to scrounge for a sofa at someone’s house, bitten through the night as we slept, as mosquitoes swarmed through the screen-shredded windows.
For those whose vehicles were destroyed, it would have been nice had the authorities organized pick ups and drop offs, or had rental vehicles been organized for those who weren’t considered of high enough status to merit the admittedly scarce resource.
Instead some of us had to hitch rides or walk home at night, petrified on pitch black streets.
Further, Covid, as bad as it is, has not imposed the Ivan PTSD-engendering conditions of shock, homelessness, and despair.
Yet, the Premier thinks he can hand out bonuses from the people’s money to civil servants, most of whom are paid well enough already, if not exorbitantly.
And all the while while many of the masses of the people are income-less and have limited prospects of pay mounting bills.
I don’t think we will forget this one. We shall remember.
1,000 thumbs up.
I think Alden and crew realises that they need to get hundreds of millions into the economy quickly. I have advocate for that and this is one way to make sure it gets spent. I could think of other ways that would have a broader effect and be more equitable but at least he realised that stimulus is needed. He better do more and quicker, like Israel.. Keep the foot on the gas or he will find how money can also shelter in place. I think they have realised now money shelters in place!
Incoherent nonsense
I will not forget this one as well. A Goverment that rewards performance and cares about its people.
Messiah complex.
I wish to applaud the young Caymanian for the comments. It is refreshing to see our young people standing up for what is right.
I know poor Anon is losing sleep over this.
My view is simple, an employer has rewarded their employees for outstanding performance. This happens every year in the private sector and I can assure you some people buy cars and land with their bonuses. What is so ironic is that without the work of the public sector those bonuses would not be possible.
So stop your negative comments. Your comments clearly have no affect on the decisions our leaders make.
Thank you to our covid 19 heroes in the public sector.
Thank you Ma’am,
I’m just sick of the double standard on this whole Blog. The CIG Staff shouldn’t get anything yet most of these same jokers in the private sector are currently home sending maybe a few emails closing their laptop and will be the first ones with their hands out looking for their usual December bonus since they are so disgusted I hope they all will refuse their bonuses. They call in sick if not more. They make the same excuses if not more and we incur the same costs as they do. Someone made the dumbest comment I’ve ever seen “F the Civil Servant” you see how they describe us. To be clear I am in the CIG and use some of my very own salaries to donate drinking water and food I don’t look for any praise or acknowledgement. Many civil servants have made sacrifices and many contributions. So many of these same people even complained about how long they took to get free masks even though most bought some personally prior to the announcement to give out. I watch persons I know who make great bonuses and are well take more masks and water even though they knew the neighbours next to them hand nothing. This is what this site is littered with negativity and rampant hypocrisy.
But here’s the thing. The private sector funds the public sectors wages. So we get to comment on what it is spent on and whether we, who are paying for it, think is fair or good value for money. Especially when it goes beyond what the agreed rates for doing the job – including overtime – are.
In the same way that my shareholders get to say whether I get a bonus, irrespective of whether I think I have done a good job or deserve more. And whilst you dont get to bitch about how much I get paid and whether I deserve it because its not your money, you can comfort yourself that its highly unlikely that in the ruthless private sector they will be paying me unless I have generated value.
When the decision to pay you a bonus is taken by someone who isn’t footing the bill and takes no care to explain how it is calculated or limited to those that have really gone above ad beyond, or provide any transparency on who is getting it, you shouldn’t be surprised when people question the idea.Get the chip off your shoulder and try see the issue through the lens of the private sector who paid for everything from gas boy to the nation building fund before you start to brand them as being ungrateful and selfish.
CNS is still a reflection of what happens on this island and if not for CNS a lot would go unsiad and unheard.
You can choose not to comment or visit the site.
Young Caymanian get some experience outside of CIG and you might find it life changing that companies have systems that work.
The term “hero” must have a different meaning when applied to the public sector.
Three months off work eating Cheetos is not my definition of heroic.
Unless you meant the frontline staff in the hospitals? Those brave hero’s who treated the only fatality for a day and then closed the hospitals for all other care for three months?
Really Alden, there are thousands of Caymanians who have lost their jobs in tourism. Yes we thank those front liners but really a bonus, didn’t you just give everyone a raise in December?
These persons have been paid full salaries, there are families out there who are having a hard time feeding theirs kids and paying bills.
Oh wait, Alden doesn’t care about them, the private sector will raise money and feed them (which we have done).
Let’s see if any of these Civil Servants who get this bonus give it to a charity, I have a $1000 on it not one will ( CNS, if 10 civil servants donate there bonuses, let me know and I’ll donate 1k to feed our future).
It’s election time, taxi drivers get money, now civil services, I wonder how much Alden will give to the churches next.
It is time for new and younger leadship, hopefully we’ll get a few good persons running, not Aldens cronies and the old brigade as per usual. Oh and can someone decent please run in Red Bay!
Yes, CNS please let us know if if any civil servants share their bonuses with those in need. Also please ask the status of the new civil service donation program that, if I recall correctly, Mr. Manderson was talking about a couple of conferences ago.
4:31. You sound like a MLA wannabe. But you have lost the plot. When you tear down the very people you want to vote for you. That is a failed strategy.
Civil servants are not fooled and we are paying attention to what is being said by the wannabes and the incumbents who want the civil servant vote but are tearing us down behind the scenes.
The Government has spent millions on Caymanians who have lost their jobs and given food voucher to work permit holders.
The people making all of this happen are public servants. They deserve this small token of appreciation. I agree with the Premier it should have been more.
Thank you CIG you made us the world leader in the fight against COVID 19.
6.20pm The Civil Service have always been overpaid for inefficiency and incompetence- you owe us. You claim to be “world class” and now you claim you made us the “world leader in the fight against Covid 19”. Try looking at all the other Caribbean territories that have much lower Covid cases per capita. You and your ilk live in a world of make believe and undeserved perks that nobody else gets.
You lost me at “ these people”. How awful of you.
Building fund anyone?
It’s nice to be in the tribe. It’s nice to have leadership with money. Leadership so powerful they could shut down all businesses but their own. Lockdown everyone but themselves inside their own homes, and stop all entry and exit to and from the islands except the ones they control.
Let them eat cake.
And make it Heavy Cake!
Ahhh the fresh smell of election time. Oh no wait, thats bull shit
I think everyone is capable of recognizing that no matter how unpopular the shutdown, those that enforced it were doing their job and, given the assumed risks at the time, felt that they were taking a risk for society and suffered familial inconveniences as a result. Praise and thanks are fair enough. In the UK, where people were dying like flies at one point, and NHS workers were having to self isolate when not on shift and had their own elevated death rates,there was a widespread practice of the general public weekly applauding – literally – the efforts of front line staff to show their thanks. So praise them,, even give them a medal. But to give a cash bonus to people who were being paid for doing that job at a time when many have lost their livelihoods and are dependent on charity, is insensitive to say the least.
I think your comment is insensitive. And I’m being polite.
11.32 So says a civil servant.
So can we claim back the overtime that the 100% Caymanian clown show, otherwise known as CBC, claimed everyday despite riding around doing absolutely nothing with RCIPS officers, similarly doing absolutely nothing?
Apart from a few ineffective road blocks, distributing shopping carts and spraying hands with alcohol hand sanitizer, exactly how did they earn their over inflated pay checks?
You have CBC officers selling BBQ on the road side on Saturday. They definitely need a bonus!
Slush fund, back again…
As much as I can agree that these workers should deserve something extra it certainly shows the disconnect tand lack of empathy the Premier and the Government has with its people.
Yes, these people did a good job but they had “jobs” and were being paid many of which were paid overtime when necessary. There are many of us still dependent on charities for food and waiting on NAU to give us the bare necessities like rent and electricity.
What Alden should have done was offer some show of support to those that are suffering the most. If he had said the government was giving these front liners $1000 and $500 of that was being donated to a charity such as Acts of Random Kindness or Meals on Wheels to name a few in the name of these front-liners, this would have went a long way in showing empathy and support.
It is very easy to see that the optics of this could easily be misconstrued as vote buying for the next election, as we have seen these tactics applied, particularly by this government before. Could this represent the start of the election campaign of the “Unity Government?”
Never a pay cut. Never laid off. Never fired. Never accountable. Always full secure pension. Always full healthcare for life. Always having a business on the side. So the only time they have to step up and do their job we need to give them a bonus. Give me a f*ing break. Meanwhile most all non civil service Caymanians are just trying to keep their head above water. BS.
10.10pm A perfect portrayal of the civil service.
It’s Never Ever Land!
This is like Robin Hood in reverse. Take money from the whole country to give people in naturally high risk jobs a bonus for simply doing their job. Had this money come from his and his teams own salary then I would applaud the move. As it is he has just kicked sand in the face of those already brought to their knees by his decision making.
You people can never ever be grateful for what we do.
When we are locked up in our offices with you all, it’s not high risk unless you have tuberculosis or Bleeding all over us and you’re HIV positive
Now, this COVID-19 is far more risky and unpredictable as numerous physicians tested positive… only by doing their job trying to assist with a cardiac emergency procedure from a ship…
Ya’ll need to take a step back and check yourselves because $1000 is a drop in a manhole if this was a severe outbreak… but, thanks to the healthcare professionals taking the necessary precautions …it was not so!
You know how damn hard it is just to take off PPE when you step away from a coronavirus patient
…just shut the hole in your face… unuh chat chat chat until unuh chat pure fart
“Numerous physicians tested positive” and then you follow with, “by doing their job trying to assist cardiac emergency from a ship”. Is this comment a fact? You don’t help your cause by making unclear or untrue statements.
Your bedside manner must be amazing!
8.50pm So a virus so debilitating you don’t even know you have it, is so much worse than TB or HIV?.Your comment is as ignorant as your foul language.
Why should people get a bonus for doing their job? Hell, one person died not 1,000.
Too many snowflakes here totally detached from the rest of the world.
Whilst you are entitled to your opinion, I suggest you need to give a bit of consideration to the frontline workers employed in the high risk jobs who had to move out of their family homes so as not to put their relatives at risk. No one should consider this sacrifice to be part of their job. You should also consider the many staff in the low risk jobs that were redeployed and put into high risk jobs to provide the necessary services during the Covid situation.
The fact that we haven’t had the numbers of patients and the death toll seen elsewhere, is testament to the efforts of these frontline workers who stepped up and did what ever was necessary to curtail the spread of this disease. They did not do it for reward they did it because they saw the need.
and what about all the people in the private sector that this also happened with that were doing the same jobs…no bonus for them
No different to when the private sector award their employees bonuses every year at Christmas. Public sector get nothing and many end up working over Christmas.
I agree with you. Robin Hood was an exemplary chap from my old county. He was a naturalist and lived in a tree. He was employed in the crusades and for King Richard. He fought the obnoxious sherif comparable to our speaker. We need the likes of him here.
I am prepared to pay for his ticket but have no clout these days to get him a work permit can someone help me here. He would be great in tourism.
Yes, every front line worker does deserve a bonus in appreciation of their outstanding service. No right minded person should disagree but, is it really the right decision to make at a time like this. Are they trying to divide people more, especially when they are getting an abundant of complaints about Caymanians not able to feed themselves even with government programs. Could they not wait until the economy has improved.
So to the commenter that admonished people for their negative attitudes, I’m sure that most of the front line workers are getting pay checks or have the ability to feed themselves every day and can wait for a bonus. What about the women with children, and the seniors, who wait anxiously every day for ARC or other organizations to show up so they can feed their families. Donations from the private sector is not never ending.
Geez, Grand Cayman was not NYC In March and April where doctors and nurses were working 14 hour days, seven days a week and thousands dying. One person died here and hospitals were not over flowing. Please get a grip on reality here.
And the person that died wasn’t even in the government hospital!!
Or die of Covid.
I think they should be given a bonus!!
People who kept Cayman population from starvation are the heroes. People in supermarkets who were disinfecting non-stop with toxic chemicals are the heroes. People who were and are stocking shelves are the heroes. People who cooked fresh food and delivered are the heroes. CNS staff who kept Caymanians informed, asked difficult questions, allowed people to vent are the heroes.
All of the above mentioned people were overwhelmed, overworked and underpaid. The are front line workers.
Luckily, HSA system weren’t put to test due to near absence of moderately and critically ill people. Luckily ventilators weren’t used by inexperienced medical staff.
Did I miss somehow overwhelmed and overworked hospital workers and physicians? Dying people lying in corridors for the lack of available beds? Ambulances delivering non-stop critical patients?
800 bodies.
Where are the 800 bodies? Did I miss something?
Yes you missed as much as CIG did.
There was a shed load of (paid) overtime. And they did have to work damn hard in relation to their colleagues in places like the DVLC or post office. Its all relative.
1,000 thumbs up.
When the dust settles, I would hope that all frontline workers in the Commonwealth are awarded a special biohazard service medallion from the Queen to commemorate their efforts during this crisis. This is as close to a global war as we’ve been in many generations.
12.24pm Depends where the frontline workers are. In Cayman the risk is negligible, just look at the statistics. I don’t recall any medals for all the U.K medical staff who went to Africa to battle the Ebola outbreak where the fatality rate was over 90%.
But nobody knew that when they went to work in March, whilst everyone else took shelter.
Does this include the day and night staff at the Port as well? It seems as though they’ve been forgotten throughout this pandemic knowing that they handle all shipment of containers coming in to the country.
Every civil servant deserves a massive bonus. We have gone through the war. 😊 😊
This place is an island with snowflakes everywhere. Toughen up people. We are so spoiled here compared to the rest of the world. One friggin death. Give me a break.
And that differed from their pre COVID work how? Not as if there were more containers. Or the containers were all smeared with COVID. Or they had to confront potentially dangerous members of th public. Want to give someone who took real risks an award, try the checkout staff at the supermarkets who had way more exposure to getting infected than anyone other than possibly the testing teams (who had proper PPE).
Bam!! Negative posters take that!! I am covered in glee!!
10000% support this token of appreciation. Dr Lee and the testing team really deserves this.
I don’t want to read any crap about public servants were doing their jobs. They performed well above the call of duty.
We finally have a Government and Civil Service leadership that cares about their staff.
Remember if this has gone horribly wrong it would be the public service that would be blamed.
If you can blame then be big enough to give credit.
11.31am Spoken like a true civil servant with his hand out.
Anon. Pray tell us what you have done for Cayman. This is best time of your life and that is fine. But we are really concerned about your constant complaining. This is not good for anyone.
Why don’t you jump on the civil service bagwagon. Start working hard, risking your life for others, donating some of your salary to the needy, cleanling up your community and working to make lives better.
Come on Anon. It will be a life changing event for you.
Yes I am proud civil servant who has worked on the front line keeping people like Anon safe. No matter what is said on this site. I will continue to do my job and be proud
Stop being so jealous of civil servants.
He won’t because the requires him to get off his behind and do something positive. CNS posting is his only contribution.
Thank you Ma’am for your service and you deserve it. As a civil servant I know we pay the same bills and brunt the same cost just like many in the private sector. But clearly some of these jokers didn’t know we pay the same bills and indirect taxation they do.
That’s a mighty big “IF”.
Are you a keyboard warrior from the UK?
Wotes I tell you, WOTES!!
Measly $1000 dollars come on Alden squeeze those expats in quarantine for more money we need atleast $3000 to make worthwhile and you will get my vote
LOL
F$%& a Civil Servant.
What about me? A taxpayer! I pay for all the salaries and bonuses. Everyone’s life is in some kind of crisis due to the lockdown. Everyone was impacted by the government’s MANDATED lockdown. It saved lives and destroyed peoples livelihoods and made others RICH. This is unfair. Period.
I wonder how many DOT staff are still getting a salary for sitting at home!?
This CAYMAN is not for all Caymanians. I said it.
What TAX??🤣🤣🤣
Haha clown. There is tax on everything you buy.
They get a bonus for doing their job!?
But yet the Premier turns his back on hundreds of unemployed Caymanians just because they are not in tourism! WTF!!! “We can’t help everyone.” ~ Premier
But it is okay to give 10,000 people a $150 food voucher and call that an achievement??
It is NOT YOUR MONEY ALDEN. It belongs to ALL the people and everyone should get a fair relief from the lock down YOU imposed. Not just #cornbeef
I hope this government gets sued for the human rights voilations that are developing day by day.
#thisismadness Cayman
“But yet the Premier turns his back on hundreds of unemployed Caymanians just because they are not in tourism! WTF!!!” Please tell me where all of this help is for the tourism sector? $600.00 for 4 months, wow, someone could buy a condo on seven mile beach with these sort of payoffs!! Please research your information before you posts these comments.
9:19. Keep calm don’t explore. This is exactly the right thing to do. If you were on the front line dealing with covid 19 positive people you would be singing a different tune.
Google covid 19 heroes pay and you will see that many Goverments in worse financial shape that cayman is doing the exact seem thing.
Thank you CIG I very proud of your performance.
Please be quiet always bashing Government Staff. The government can’t fix every issue. The current government has even given everyone access to their pensions. So many have pushed through as worked well to aid the people. What have you personally done except complaint on a Blog that gives fools like you a voice to bash the so many in the civil service that makes the effort for all of us. They deserve it CIG, RCIPS, HSA and the list goes on. Thank you to the Current government.
9:19. No they get a bonus for outstanding performance and saving your life.
In the private sector you get a bonus for doing your job.
It takes a very special person who sat at home for 3 mths and will likely get a over $10k bonus at year end. To complain because the persons who risked their lives to keep them safe got at $1000 bonus. Go figure.
#get a life
Did they really risk their lives? Remember one person died. A bit over dramatic. This was not NYC or New Jersey a few months ago.
The risked their life bit looks a bit sticky though, doesn’t it? benefit of hindsight and all that,but…it turns out it may have involved long and perhaps antisocial hours, but it wasn’t actually dangerous. Unless you want to argue that because of the policing of the not only limited the numbers of people getting COVID here, but also the severity of the virus, which would be an interesting argument since even Dr Lee cant work that one out and thinks it might just be environmental.
You can’t even hashtag correctly you’re so wrong…
How about the person who was forced to stay at home and had to keep doing his job despite the challenges of remote working, and is unlikely to get a bonus irrespective of hard they worked because the profitability of the business has tanked, looking at certain categories of civil servants who sat on their tufty at home and did jack, but still got full pay, and no clarity on where the Premier will draw the boundary on frontline and whether it extends to, say, Eric Bush and his curfew time team, or the postmaster general, and know that you have to pay for it all. Do they get to complain? Just asking.
Election mode has begun. The race for 2021 is on and using public funds to gain support is how the government operates.
I’m a senior. Caymanian. At home. Shopping on line. Staying home to save lives. It cost me $30 / $40 for EVERY grocery delivery. From my $1,000 month pension. Where is my bonus for doing my part? If I hadn’t stayed home I could have been a death. Your stats would not have looked as good.
Where’s my bonus for doing my (Unpaid) ‘job’? $1,000 or even $500 would be very welcome.
How many senior Caymanians are there? Didn’t even get a mask for free…,
Alden has bills to pay you know!
So give them $1500 on top of their inflation proof pensions, free medical and jobs for life.I doubt all the supermarket workers who have had far more exposure to the virus and the many who have caught it, will be getting a similar bonus. “The Deputy Governor and chief officers will manage the programme” i.e. dole it out entirely at their questionable discretion.
As for those working in the most hazardous conditions, how many of them have caught a cold i.e. the Cayman version of Covid?. This is yet another excuse to pander to our major voting block, some of whom have had to work hard for the first time in their careers.
Please just be quiet. What did you do today except bash the government and its workers. Get off your behind and do something positive to make change. Always rambling on this Blog
Young Caymanian, you are so detached from the rest of the world.
What you can do is leave our country since we are so detached. The Government Staff have done exceptional work. You are comparing apples to oranges. All Civil Servants bare the same costs as you. So many of you have so much to say on this blog wonder how much of you receive something for bashing the Government, the CIG workers and many Caymanians of the this country. Stop putting up negative comments and hide behind Anonymous put a name to your comments it’s only fair at this point. You are probably one of those jokers in the Private sector sending 2 emails a day from home still collecting a full salary then also collecting a bonus for doing nothing hopefully you’ll follow your own advice and not accept a bonus and give it back.
Ironic that a civil servant thinks all the private sector do is sit at home and send 2 emails a day, sustained by the endless charity of their employer, whereas the private sector seem to have exactly the same perception of the majority of the civil service.
As I said before if you do like it hear or value the CIG and its employees and you are clearly disgruntled. You can choose to leave and return to your home country or if you are Caymanian apply for your UK passport and relocate to Great Britain where you feel the government is excellent and has no flaws with perfect employees I plead with you to go. Everything you and others on this site bash so many that are hard-working persons in CIG are in those Law Firms among other places calling in sick, taking extended lunches to go and sit at places like the Brasserie just because you don’t feel like doing any work today or hiring persons whether local or from abroad to work in Corporate offices that don’t even understand or know what to send to CIG to review nor can they send the appropriate email to support the documentation sent are collecting bonuses they cannot even follow simple guidance notes are FAQ’s to resolve simple issues which means they lack basic training and you have the audacity to speak about persons in CIG and other Statutory authorities. We can go tit for tat all day but the bonuses are earned and should be given to all persons of the CIG you are right it is the people’s money also the persons in Civil service money as well unless things have changed we pay the same bills you do and incur all the same indirect taxation as well as hidden fees. So it’s not just your money it belongs to everyone contributing to GDP.
I shall reiterate don’t like it leave our country and if you are a fellow Caymanian speaking negative of your own move to the UK or elsewhere.
I actually agree with the premier. The front line workers have been awesome and police have been out there at supermarkets, patrolling roads and making arrests all through this. As have prison, never really spoken of I have noticed through tall this. Working in a condemned over crowded prison and having two positives to deal with must have been terrifying. Those guys never get a mention either.
Good move mr Premier
7:49, That is why front line workers are paid so well here. Not as if they are poorly paid. The people I feel for are the minimum wage workers in Fosters and Kirks.
I can assure you not everyone is well paid. A large number of police at the supermarkets were special constables, doing the job for free.
Volunteering for the job
Tribal payouts to buy votes. Not news. The tribe prospers while the rest live on charity. Caymanian culture.
Waiting for all the hate about these bonuses. I never understand why the good fortune of deserving people causes so much venom for others. They DO deserve this. I understand you may be concerned about CIGs finances, but we WILL be ok.
Look in your hearts and you will agree.
We WILL be OK? Based on what? Crossing your fingers and toes and wishing really hard? Government expenditure now outstrips revenue by a significant amount, with no sign of that changing anytime soon. The Premiers solution is to borrow another $500m to keep up the rate of expenditure, rather than try and trim spending, but none of that expenditure will generate future income. Its like someone who is unexpectedly made redundant and knows it may be a year or more before he is back in a job thinking the solution is to take out a bank loan so he can continue to eat out, have an expensive car etc.
They were doing their jobs as were many other people that were deemed essential byt aren’t public servants, are they less deserving? Are persons who have lost their jobs less deserving? Are persons who have needed to adapt the way they do business and in effect work more hours for less income less deserving?
I think the issue is that the supermarket workers for example, did not get an extra dime and remained out there from the start. I know this for a fact, all they got was a thank you and that cannot buy food and pay bills.
Damn right 1:46. Thanks for speaking out for those who gave no voice.
You would be amazed how many Caymanians are truly behind this hate. Some work in the private sector for years getting bonuses they don’t deserve calling sick just as much if not more than CIG staff finding excuses to avoid work.
Pretty sure they’ll all donate it to the NAU.
6:51, It is not hate. But they are not poorly paid. Nobody says anything about the minimum wage retail workers. Why?
Next up. Donalden is going to hold a rally in a stadium for his civil servant base.
Well how about offering us private sector workers an “honorarium”. We collectively the workers at the grocery stores, banks, etc are the ones who tended to all public and private sector persons throughout this whole thing.
Think about it, not just Government-related employees bore the brunt of this thing and if you truly want to do something for us – cash would a nice way to show your appreciation.
I remain,
Mo$e$ – Trump Wannabe
Your employer should do that, not Govt
OK Fosters and Kirks step up.
Then go see your employers and see how that works for you. They have been ripping off the public for decades, they are extremely wealthy families who can more than afford a bonus for their staff, so go ask, or get another job!!!
5:17 ask your employer. They should care like the CIG cares about its staff.
Thank God hopefully will not be hearing from you and your ignorant co hort of nonsense again! Take Bush and the rest with you! This is going to be new refreshed Cayman and Dart, you don’t own us yet!
Employers should be checked on ‘well not good in interview’. When asked in interview – is this for a work permit rollover – was told – you shouldn’t be asking that but yes it is. Now go up against the law firms for their age discrimination, their rollovers, paying for employees on work permits working from home in a different jurisdiction…???
Lawyers working from home in a different jurisdiction is a crime under Cayman law. Just sayin.
Why? Many of those lawyers overseas bring revenue to Cayman. You simply don’t understand how the financial services sector works.
Most disgusting today! Premier or crap name was bad enough. So many masks to look after our seniors and residents. Oh yeah? Not enough ramblings tben comes the spend an hour waffling about history of father’s day??? How much you been paid? How much I paid for your shit through my work?
1:48 my my my no one is forcing you to watch. I strongly advise that you get back to the cartoon channel. You need to de stress. Oh yes we do care for our elderly.
The words that spring to mind are tone deaf, insensitive and completely lacking in empathy for what is happening in the larger community.
While we need to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of those on the front line, the reality is that our economy is in the biggest financial crisis in the last 50 years and Alden is giving away the public’s money like it is confetti!
This is the last PPM government all over again!!!!!!! Remember how that ended? Massive debts that the country took years to recover from!
We have thousands of people who have lost their jobs for the foreseeable future and are now living hand to mouth and the premier thinks it is the right time to start handing out bonuses? Seriously!
I can only say his comments show the lack of understanding of what is really happening on the ground and the reality that the government themselves have stopped most businesses from operating for the last 3 months. No company in the private sector would do this because they would know it would be completely insensitive to those suffering the most from the economic collapse we are seeing. Why then should the government be allowed to do it?
Shameful, absolutely shameful!
Eat cake!
Its to reinforce the central message that Alden has saved us. By rewarding those who worked hard to enforce the regulations that were imposed – drawing on a natural feeling of empathy for those who admittedly sacrificed family time and took a risk – even though it turned out to be be non existent – in policing the shutdown, you implicitly are saying a) the shutdown was necessary and b) Alden, as architect of the shutdown, is also deserving of praise.
And by extension, Alden will take all the negative comments on this and social media not as some indication that he is tone deaf and indifferent to the suffering of those who didn’t have the luxury of working hard and long hours because they lost their job, but that we are all ungrateful and callous to the front line workers sacrifice, It will be the dead grannies all over again – if you are opposed to shutdown for the entire population, you are indifferent to the elderly dying. Just wait.
I agree. Its called groupthink and is well known in psychological circles as being dangerous when groups of decision makers do not allow or encourage alternate points of view.
Pretty much everything they have done has been through a narrow lens of how it affects them and the people like them. If you have a different need they can’t deal with it because they don’t see it.
Similarly groupthink encourages actions which support the narrative, irrelevant of how it looks to a wider audience. In this case the politicians have been working with the civil service so much in the last 3 months they have no ability to understand anything happening in the private sector. To them doing this was a natural extension of support for those they have been working with closely without any understanding of how giving away $1,500 of public money to each government employee would look to those who were and continue to be horribly affected by the lock down.
If a private entity (like CUC) decided to give employee bonuses to their employees which would hike electricity rates there would be a backlash against them for being insensitive. This is no difference, except government are unable to handle criticism.
As much as it would be nice to hand everyone a bonus (including me), nobody can argue that front line workers don’t deserve the added bonus that the Premier announced..
I personally know 2 RCIPS officers that have been working many, many additional shifts at all hours of the day, spending extended time away from their families, and in doing so potentially being exposed to covid-19 and dealing with all of the hooplah that has been going on since the curfews began.
The majority deserve a thank you and a little bonus in my honest opinion.
I just hope that they will ‘pay it forward’ and help people out who are in need with a bit of that bonus $$$$.
What about all the private sector front line workers?
The public sector front line workers have bosses and owners.
I would hope that they would show the same appreciation for their employees on the front line as the Government is for the Police etc.
More money leaving the island. JA was right, leave their citizens in our country and we’ll find ways to give them more.
Are you insinuating that only Jamaicans work in civil service? I love my fellow caymanians but some of you are really special.
I feel that those guys in the Port Authority night operations and Cargo Distribution Center should be included in this bonus. They have been working straight throughout the pandemic ensuring that we got our perishable goods, dry food goods, and other essential cargo. Hats off to them, great job!
so basically doing their jobs….
Please tell me what they are doing differently than their normal jobs? In fact the amount of cargo imported has reduced significantly during the lockdown!!
I simply don’t understand why we should be giving bonuses to people for doing their regular jobs. Nothing has changed for them apart from fewer containers to move and fewer cargo ships calling. Nothing has changed! They used to bring in time sensitive cargo and guess what, they are still bringing in time sensitive cargo, but less of it!
This culture of continual handouts of public money has to stop.
I get the need to reward people for doing an exceptional job in difficult circumstances and there may be legitimate examples of this. But let’s get real! We are at the beginning of the deepest economic recession in modern times. Why would we start giving money away to lots and lots of civil servants when we have thousands and thousands of Caymanians recently unemployed? It’s insane!
Don’t forget all the money wasted on paying for stupid jingles. Haven’t heard one of them yet. And what are they using them for? Boys will be boys.
How much are they already getting?
That’s their job, they’re hardly frontline.
But that is why the Port Authority guys are paid the big bucks.
Front ine ??? Did they serve Mac his take away? Well earned
More pearls of wisdom from our leader!
What happened to the promise to help businesses with the immediate return of past due refunds from immigration, the 10 week extension for temporary permits to make up for the lost time due to the imposed lock down?
Seems all these WORC people he had at today’s press briefing was tell us all that there system is working perfectly and they have everything up to date. Reminds one of when Premier had the pension lady on but she was singing another tune in the public accounts committee hearing.
Cover your own ass time now!
so what about the front line workers in the supermarkets and the companies that supplied the supermarkets that kept the island fed during this time, putting themselves at risk every day dealing with the public. do they not deserve a bonus from government also then.
and before anyone makes the perfectly correct comment that they got paid to do their work, think about it, the same civil service front line workers that are in line for a bonus also got paid to do their job
Eat cake!
Their employer should do that, not Govt.
Are you really suggesting the Foster’s, Kirkconnell’s and the Merren’s need to pay their staff a bonus?
You missed the whole point of the comment
Vomit!
8.31pm Keep doing it until I tell you to stop.
WTF….and others are starving…..this guy doesn’t stop….of course elections are right around the corner….useless as tits on a boar hog.
Sometimes I wonder what it was that happened to people like you that causes such a negative attitude. Were you out in the streets checking IDs on thousands of people, were you at the hospitals right where the covid-19 positive were being helped or were you safe inside your home?
I didn’t ask to stay at home. I was forced to while you got full pay checking IDs. We are not the same.
You want a bonus to buy another TV?!
I’m confident you’d be singing a different tune had no lockdown occurred and we had a full blown outbreak. Don’t you think the measures the gov took was a big part in our success story? Or are you one of those flat earthers?
The negative reaction is probably a combination of
a) with hindsight we see that the risk wasn’t that high given the low number of serious cases. Whilst its easy to say that now, at the same time that’s when we are deciding to hand out the bonus – after we know. Had we had deaths and hospitalisations, there would be limited criticism
b) the perception that the public service doesn’t work that hard ordinarily so doesn’t need a bonus when the are asked to work hard
c) the fact that it is confined to the public sector – bit like 100% pay even if you are doing nothing – emphasizing an us and them divide. If Alden was awarding them money to cashiers at supermarkets, special constables and those working at the soup kitchens as well would be a lot less resentment
d) a suspicion that all those extra hours spent on the front line have already been partially rewarded by overtime
and above all, a lack of trust in anything that involves government determined rewards and perks following a long history of abuse of systems like the use of MLA credit cards, gas boy, DEH overtime payments and the all time great example of status grants. The idea may be noble, but once its a discretionary award and there is no subsequent public information over who gets it and for what, there is a suspicion that alongside the HSA nurse taking samples there will be those that never left the confines of their home or shuffled some paperwork rather than taking any risk whatsoever.
If Alden wants this to be universally supported – not sure he cares – he would a) announce clear criteria b) make it available to private sector individuals as well and c) invite the Auditor General to audit the awards.
Checking IDs is hardly a risk if you signed up to be a policeman. Risking getting ill is also a risk you accept if you work at a hospital. Bonus for just doing your job while others starve, I think they have a point. I would have gladly kept my job if they had asked me to spray people’s hands and paid me rather than being fired – just because the same ignoramus giving out the bonuses decided me and many others should not be going to work. I’m feeling pretty negative right now.
Yes, I signed up to be a police officer knowing a once in a couple of generations pandemic was about to hit.
And was it riskier than arresting criminals? No. You basically checked IDs and sprayed people’s hands with sanitizer, or zipped up and down the beach on an ATV telling people off for snorkelling. There was even less crime to police – the job you are normally paid to do. There was no pandemic, or risk to you, at the time of the bonuses being announced. So wind your neck in and thank your lucky stars that you still have an occupation unlike thousands of others on island. Or maybe donate your bonus to those that really need it.
We arrested people with COVID. Please volunteer for a shift or two with RCIPS. You’ll be a lot less bitter after it, believe me.
And that deserves a bonus does it? In the old normal would you expect a bonus for arresting someone with HIV or, lets face it, the flu. It’s your job mate. Get a grip.
He is the almighty premier, he can not stop! Elections coming up and his team must keep the power!
This is so well deserved. No right thinking person can argue that our police, CBC nurses doctors and testing teams doesn’t deserve this token of appreciation.
Thank you civil servants and the wider public service for an outstanding job.
When i was home afraid to even go to the shop you were out working.
Thank you Premier and DG for doing this
A part of the drive thru testing team includes 6 Volunteers who have worked front line for over 5 weeks, Mon-Fri for nothing.
Ask him if the HSA staff getting a penny.
Other than the helicopter pilots, NO ONE deserves a penny more. Most people in the private sector – who pay for the public sector – have suffered tremendously. This just goes to show Alden’s utter disconnect between his utopia and reality. He may be more educated than Mac but certainly not as smart. And I’m not complimenting Mac who is wholly unsuitable as well. Cayman needs some decent, properly educated persons to step up for public office.
The helicopter pilots? Genuinely curious as to why you pick them. Not sure there was even a perceived risk of flying 200 ft above the island without physical contact with anyone?
Based on the constant flyovers the pilots were obviously working. Can’t say the same of anyone else.
Police dont deserve anything extra until they work extra hard to keep us safe from dangerous drivers, robbers, etc.
To be fair, confining us all to our homes after 8 pm was remarkably effective at that.
And where do you see that the award is only to police, nurses etc? Especially after all the fulsome praise given to the efforts of desk jockeys like the curfew time team? Just watch – bureaucrats as well as public facing staff are going to get it. And given the previous comments in these press conferences that the “front line” civil service was 1500 plus people, its going to be over $1 million of money that could otherwise go to the NAU.
CNS: Can you advise on what is the government’s position on Special Constables. They have been on the front lines too. It would be nice to extend considerations to them too.
Very good point. But most of them are not voters, right.