Claims that tourism doesn’t pay is myth, says CITA
(CNS): According to a recent pay survey conducted by the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, even people working in the lowest paid jobs in their sector are all earning more than $14 per hour, which is much more that the current minimum wage. Stakeholders in the sector said at a recent CITA meeting that it is a myth that the tourism industry pays badly. But this average hourly rate included gratuities, service charges and benefits, such as meals. Many tourism workers’ basic salaries are below minimum wage, even though for some their actual earnings can be much more.
Executives from CITA told members of the industry last week that the sector will need to recruit over 2,500 staff between now and the high season in late November if the borders reopen in order to be ready for what everyone still hopes will be a resurgence in tourism for the festivities in December.
With the challenges surrounding work permits and the pandemic, the executive pointed out that recruitment is going to be a major problem for hospitality this year. As a result, CITA President Marc Langevin urged CITA members to work at dispelling “the myth of low pay in tourism”.
Showing memebrs a graphic based on the results of the survey, CITA said a server or bartender working during high season on a basic annual wage of $10,000 was earning in high season $40,000 because of gratuities, and with various other incentives and tips could exceed $50,000. A kitchen porter who is at the very bottom of the pay heap, could increase their basic salary of $17,000 per year to over $32,000 with gratuities, according to the graphic.
Langevin said the executive had recently held a lively meeting with the new government, where the ministers made it clear they wanted to see more locals in tourism. Langevin said there was no holding back from either side at the “very honest and direct” meeting. PACT members raised the issue of pay, saying it needs to improve if Caymanians are to return to working in tourism. But Langevin said pay was already well above minimum wage and dismissed the fundamental issue that banks don’t count tips when it comes to assessing home loans.
If workers pay their gratuities into the bank regularly instead of spending them, then a record builds up that banks will take into account, Langevin said, adding that over the years many servers working in the hospitality sector have been able to buy a home.
Nevertheless, the pay remains a major barrier to recruiting locally. Regardless of the average outcomes on the survey, some workers are being paid just $4.50/hour, as hotels and restaurants are allowed to top up the salary to minimum wage using the service charge to bring it to CI$6.50. During high season, the service charge for all workers can make their wages more than minimum wage and they can also receive direct cash tips over and above the inclusive service charge. But it is seasonal and can range dramatically across the year.
Markus Mueri, the restaurant director for CITA, said that this was something those who work in tourism must bear in mind as it is “an up and down” sector. Those who work hard can make very good money in the high season, “but you must really want it and be prepared to hustle”, he said.
Both Mueri and Langevin said that nearly all employers in tourism want, first and foremost, to hire Caymanians.
Mueri urged CITA members to persuade everyone they know who is looking for work to join the sector and he urged all locals who may have found other work since the pandemic lockdown to come back. He said CITA plans to create a campaign to attract Caymanians to the industry and train them to fill a variety of jobs across tourism.
Falling short of saying that the tourism stipend should end now, Mueri said CITA supported the assistance government has given to people who were laid off or put on short hours but they now had to persuade people to come back to work.
Meanwhile, stressing the difficulties of re-mobilizing the workforce, Langevin, who is the general manger at the Ritz-Carlton, said the hotel had begun a recruitment drive and had asked Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman to find local workers. When the resort reopens at the end of this year after the summer renovations, it will need hire an additional 500 people but so far just 50 Caymanians have applied there for a job.
As a result the CITA executives all stressed the need for WORC to help them get through the work permit process for the staff that would be needed and exlained why they felt is was necessary to open the borders as soon as possible so all of the additional requirements that have to met because of the pandemic can be address sooner rather than later.
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Category: Business, Jobs, Local News, Tourism
Thousands of expats have work these jobs here on Cayman over many years and have been happy to do so while making their bosses and customers happy to have them. Pay was never a problem for them. Making customers and Bosses happy was never a problem for them. Successful business! But not good enough for you? Too much work for too little pay? Then don’t do it and leave it for the ones who will.
If you are willing to participate in slave labour, it is your call alone to make.
However, the notion that the money in Cayman and hard work ethic in Cayman has dried up is simply not true.
I can assure you foreign investor pockets are being lined everyday with the money the rest of us cannot find, and simply do not care who does the work or about the people who are too stupid to realize they are being exploited for anything they are willing to offer, in the name of being a “hard worker”. Everybody works hard, period.
WP holder or local, if you drop dead on the job tomorrow, your replacement will be found in no time, sometimes before you are even buried.
Honest work and being an indentured servant are too different things. Island life is tough anywhere you go, but don’t point fingers at anyone who simply isn’t willing to submit to modern-day slavery to survive this little thing we call life.
Make sure who you care to work for is willing to care to work for you.
It’s all a matter of perspective. What you call “slave labor” others call work. Can’t do it because its beneath you then don’t. I did everything from bagging groceries to cleaning toilets when I was young and never considered it beneath me.
Enough is enough PACT insert in the Tourism regulations that wages in all sectors including tourism must have a base in line with current minimum wages established by law. End of story. Whatever else is being paid to an employee must be within reasonable and acceptable labor standard pay and benefits.
….because of gratuities not MANDATORY which therefore has to be registered by the ???, and with various other incentives which is not mandatory and tips which you have to beg for nothing is mandatory in the Cayman Islands, every business can deny the benifits which is paid by the USA and UK also EU through an assiciation or other mandatorily, if so by Plane or by Cruise travel it is paid and these are facts…. I worked in tourism from 1996 up until today and foward on i will yet i dont get these big words of a mentioned by the CITA regarding gratuities, various other incentives and tips ???? Make these things Compulsory to pay and not on own accord if want to do so. Change these board members lets Hussle hussle to stay alive is what i do hustle hard.
It’s always Caymanian should be preferred over foreigners. Am I the only “woke” persons who see this as just a ploy of each gov to get Caymanians to have them vs us mentality? Cayman is built of work permit money and if it ever leaves it will be dark days in Cayman so you sit there and believe they actually want locals to work.
Whoa, logic has little meaning for the masses here.
Will not be understood, will not be appreciated.
A working Caymanian should always be preferred over a working foreigner. They need someone who works. That is what is causing the problem. Hopefully this clears up the misunderstanding.
Caymanian is just a name given ti those whom has civil rights locally and so if you want to be caymanian then join the others who has …by paper or by pain be Caymanian its your choice, besides Cayman revenue is collect taxes and incentives from work permits to pay the government workers and place funds into the treasure chest for those to .!,?(?.. Cayman given an equal opportunity to apply and become one, the workd is yours and people has been travelling from the beginning and so shall be onwards, hey my friend pls do whats best for you
A senior accountant in a large accounting firm makes 75-80k usd per year. Roughly, they work 52 weeks per year, 60-65 billable hours per week. That comes to $23-25 per hour. On top of billable hours, they work 10-15 non billable hours per week. Still want a job of an accountant?
Accountants in Funds Administration do work fixed hours with weekends and holidays off. But to get there you have to survive in a large accounting firm. Legalized slavery with no overtime paid at a blended rate. Bonuses? Sometime they are paid, but not guaranteed.
The grass is not always greener in the other side.
Senior accountants aren’t working 60-65 hours a week every week for the entire year, someone has been lying to you. During busy season you can expect they work 60-75/week total, during off season it’s much closer to 40/week total.
Absolutely agree. Of course the OP also didn’t mention that they need to have good educational grades, probably a university degree, and depending on their professional institute do 1-3 years as a trainee during which time they have to work full time whilst studying for their professional exams in their own time.
Tourism work in the Cayman Islands does pay; no doubt. Ask any middle and upper-level personnel of any establishment, including CITA and let us not forget the Real-estate Companies, on these islands.
It does not pay for the personnel below these levels across the sectors of the tourism industry here in the Cayman Islands.
Caymanians can’t and will not survive on the types of scenarios given by Marc or anyone else at the CITA and hush about spouting out about owning homes. This fact does not apply to homeownership in the Cayman Islands unless you are bringing in the salaries that so many middle and upper-level personnel receive. I am not buying your hogwash BS and I do believe the KYD was and is the prime reason why you all are still here.
Furthermore, Caymanians will not put up with the exploitation that many foreign workers find themselves going through while working in the Tourism Industry here in the Cayman Islands.
Until Caymanians are favoured over the work permit worker and the salaries are parred with other industries, which allow Caymanians to minimally survive, then CITA and the Tourism Industry will continue to win when it comes to permit holders Vs Caymanian workers.
You do realize that globalization happened, Caymanians are not just competing with work permit holders on Island.
We can decide that everyone in the tourist industry will make at least $15/hr and Caymanians will actually be hired, but that will drive up costs and at some point the tourist product does become uncompetitive even for the higher end visitors we get here.
If you start to think of Cayman as one small town competing against all the other small towns & cities in the world it might help. We can’t just say hire Caymanians and pay them more.
If we want good paying jobs for Caymanians we need to improve the access to education and the quality that is being delivered. Even if we make the school system perfect tomorrow it will take 10-20 years before it really changes the workforce here.
Born & Raised Caymanian here (sad that this disclaimer is needed tbh)
I recently took a job in the tourism industry at one of our local hotels and all I can say is, while the earning potential can be great, your personal time is greatly sacrificed as well.
If you’re okay with working 6+ days a week, odd shifts, 95% certainty that you’re never getting weekends or holidays… then this is the right job for you.
Why go for that, though, when you can earn similar wages (consistently) by pushing papers in one of the local law firms and know for sure that when Friday comes you don’t really have to think about work ’til the next Monday. Also, the bank won’t want to see 2+ years of statements to prove you’re making enough for a mortgage anyone can barely afford these days anyway.
People always make Caymanians out to be lazy but idk why anyone who was raised here would want to spend the entirety of their time working, only to have nothing else to do otherwise. Say what you want but I’m tired of just going to the beach.
CIG must subsidize real estate purchases for young Caymanians who hold steady, at least 2 years, jobs. There are many different ways to do that. Interest or principal reduction for example, with each passing year a person was gainfully employed. It is indeed a shame that young Caymanians can’t practically afford to buy a house/ condo in Grand Cayman.
2:52 it’s frustrating and upsetting. As a young, educated, Caymanian I find it very disheartening that I cannot afford to purchase a starter home or piece of land in the island that I was born and raised. This is my home, but yet I am unable to move out of my parents home and begin independent living. I am unable to afford to do so and what I currently qualify for is substantially less than what is on the market. Almost everything is $450,000 CI and above. The few places under $350,000 are barely over 600 square feet….if that. That’s essentially a glorified broom closet.
I wish that CIG would look into alternative ways for us young people to be able to afford to buy a house or condo for ourselves.
Of course tourism doesn’t pay. How can it when then borders are closed for years?
6:00 it never payed
It has payed thousands of workers over the years. Just not to poor workers.
In other news, turkeys say Thanksgiving sucks.
Lmao- greatest CNS comment ever
sharks say that claims sharks eat people are a myth…
You and 9:58 (probably the same person) are making light of people trying to make ends meet. I hope karma judges you fairly.
CITA it is a disgrace and shameful that you would say that $4.50 as a minimum salary is good. Gratuities and tips for example are not pensionable; hence, Caymanians will never be able to retire with any decent quality of life post working in the industry.
Moreover, I doubt that when applying for a mortgage that gratuities and tips will be taken into account.
Clearly, these arrangements are beneficial to to the expat worker where KYD or USD will be significant when converted in the home country.
This is shameful and the CIG was right to press for better wages in the industry. Pay a living wage.
We, the customer, shouldn’t be expected to significantly subsidize the wages of the workers in the industry!
Maybe that’s why Caymanians don’t want to work in this industry!
I think pension contributions are payable on total earnings including gratuities.
Tell that to the restaurant on Eastern Avenue that keeps being dragged into court for not paying pensions.
Disgusting that they repeatedly get away with it.
There should be a minimum wage at a living wage
No. A minimum wage less than a living wage is appropriate for trainee/apprenticeship positions. But no expat should be brought in at less than living wage. To do so is to import poverty.
We are already importing poverty! There are more factors than wages at play.
It is the law that pensions should be paid on tips and grats.
On grats yes, on tips, no.
World-wide, the customer subsidizes the wages of workers. This is not unique to Cayman, and no, Cayman will not alter this arrangement.
Don’t want to eat out and compensate the staff for good service as expected – don’t eat out, stay at home and cook your own meals.
The United States is not the world. Indeed, Europe does not operate on that basis, and neither did Cayman pre Radiisson.
2:35 actually give us good service and we’ll consider it. Your entitled ass is not going to hold me back from going out and enjoying a meal simply because you “expect a tip” even with your shitty attitude.
2:35 here. I have not worked in a restaurant since I was 16 – now 62. So I’m not speaking for myself – first wrong assumption.
Entitled a..? Well, put myself through University and learned how to communicate without swearing. So entitled – second wrong assumption.
And finally, you bluntly state your intention to eat out and if good service is given you will ‘consider’ giving a tip. So who has the shi..y attitude?
It’s sad you have such distain for those who work hard.
Perfectly said. Anyone who has ever served or waited on other people will never forget that experience, and are most likely of everyone to tip.
I am part of the problem; I realise that restaurants add an automatic gratuity — which is not always share with the workers — and yet I tip on top of that for good services, because I have been in that place where I depended upon a decent tip for my livlihood. Likewise, I am most likely to not reward bad service, unless it is a result of the server being required to cover FAR too many tables. A friendly attitude goes a long way.
We need to continue to reward good service, but we should also insist upon a minimum wage in which people who are here for life can survive upon.
8:27 it is a consideration though. No one has to leave a tip. I only tip when I have received good service, otherwise, I eat my meal, pay my bill and leave. There are some servers who have a sour disposition and do not deserve a tip.
No one has to tip you 2:35. Your employer should pay you better, the onus isn’t on the customer.
Yes, however there is evidence that our subsidising of wages doesn’t always (or ever!) get passed along to the worker. This is the crux of the problem, and it needs fixing. Right. Now.
If you don’t want to start at the bottom how do you expect to get to the top?
Have the Senior management disclosed their pay?
What about the secret benefits?
BoomBoom Room?
I know of a lovely Filipino lady who left her job as a helper making 24,000 CI a year to go and work in a bar. She has no special qualifications. She has been there 9 months now and has, even without tourists, made more than double what she used to make. She is on a work permit and no Caymanian wanted/applied for the job.
11:04 you are full of shit.
I don’t think so. “lovely” women tend to do well in a bar setting. While not a true qualification managers like to have a few hotties on staff.
Which is why I drink at Sunset House….
A a bloke, there is nothing better than being served in a restaurant by a polite and attentive lady.
Sure they make tips.
I also am sure to tip decent male servers who are attentive and polite. I don’t care if they are pretty or not…lol.
Come on people, we can be honest with ourselves.
We should stop being so bloody religious.
I know a lot of waiters and bartenders. Of all nationalities and not all of them are not overtipped just because they are good looking (though let’s be honest, that sometimes helps a bit). Plenty of these people make CI40,000-50,000 and a few even more. They have zero relevant qualifications other than a good work ethic and a pleasant personality. Those jobs could and should be had by Caymanians. I’m not denying that there are some instances of discriminatory hiring practices. But there is plenty of money to be made in restaurants for Caymanians.
It is a hard job, but if we want more Caymanians in the industry why don’t we increase the work permit fees to something along the lines of what Financial Services pays for lower level staff.
If the worker is really needed and a local option can’t be found then the employer will pay the fee.
Otherwise an employer will just be tempted to pony up the current CI$2,100 for a Waiter/Waitress/Deli Clerk/Sandwich Artist.
There is a certain level of control over permit holders that doesn’t exist when someone can walk across the street to another job as a Caymanian.
Ever wonder why so few people working in service jobs are teenagers or part-time locals?
The current system rewards business owners for not hiring Caymanians, but Gov’t would be too afraid to raise the fees anywhere other than Financial Services.
Lets just force business owners to hire Caymanians over expats. And force Business owners to close down. This is Caymans plan so far. Anyone see the problem? An Island that has idiots running it into the ground while the people cheer and drive around drunk.
Perfect.
Because they probably barely advertised it or put it on that crappy site they have worked up that is hardly user friendly.
FFS! The jobs are there, but to find one, you do actually have to make an effort.
Would help if they were advertised. For the most part, they are not. When they are, the remuneration available is not always disclosed.
1:08 precisely…. as for your worthless hide 9:01 – many make an effort but the employers are hell bend on her ideal of the “perfect employee” which is typically against the people of these islands.
And what is that discriminatory ideal – genuinely interested as to what you think an employer would think are ideal qualities that Caymanians cannot meet?
It is simply this: Often a business has a cadre of expat employees and they are controllable. They are also a team who know how to work with each other and the customers.
The owners want to continue to pay them crap wages. The expats — no fault of their own — are just trying to make their way through things. They were requested, every one of them, from a Caymanian who chose to pay a native less than they were worth.
Filipinos are a major part of what is wrong with Cayman.
you are a major part of what is wrong with Cayman
Raising the bar for excellent work ethic and good natured friendliness is bringing this place down..lol
Jamaicans you mean.
Phillipinos have an excellent work ethic, are polite, reliable, show up , do a good days work, don’t steal, not rude, don’t steal , are not loud, don’t steal.
Unless you’re a woman
So aggravating that they and other expats actually are willing to work hard for a living instead of bitching all the time about things, isn’t it 8:07?
Bigots like you is what is wrong with Cayman.
Actually, 8:07, Caymanians like you are what’s wrong with Cayman.
10:02 that’s a bit callus of you. Who is to say that the OP is Caymanian? Their comment isn’t nice, that’s for sure but I have heard of many other nationalities here who make snide remarks about Filipinos. You sound a bit bigoted against Caymanians, do remember that this is their country.
Because they will work for nothing and this is bad for cayman indeed. Who cannot see this is not thinking, so stop bashing the poster.
If anything we need more, they are generally kind and respectful and blend in well. I am a Caymanian married to one, so deal with it.
I’ll compensate good service from anyone. I don’t hold predjudice against anyone who works hard for their wages.
Your comment is reflective of what is wrong in the world – I won’t assume you are Caymanian, from Cayman, in Cayman or who knows. Ignorance knows no borders.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been rejected (as a 20 year old native Caymanian) from the hospitality industry. I have 4+ years of work experience in both offshore accounting and hospitality (I worked two jobs at once). When I was looking for a third job, I applied as a housekeeper, a janitor, a dish washer, a bartender, almost every job available and was denied each time. So I can promise you that it’s not that Caymanians don’t want the job. They won’t hire us because unlike work permit holders, we have an advantage that we can complain about our conditions without fear of deportation. So overall, they exploit the expats while denying the Caymanians. Great system, thanks PPM.
I don’t believe you for two seconds. You are 20 and have 4 years experience in offshore accounting and hospitality?
For starters, who hires a 16 year old in the offshore accounting industry? What possible qualifications could you have had for that?
Secondly what could you have done in hospitality at that age, and more importantly why didn’t you get promoted?
Put your money where your mouth is and call out the hotel and let’s find out if your story is true.
I bet dollars to donuts you are just like every other 20 year old kid who thinks they’re a “hustler” because they post pictures of themselves doing expensive dumb shit on instagram.
How could you possibly have been doing both jobs at once and think you have room in the day for a third? If you actually work that hard then I guarantee you’re in a good place. But you’re here on CNS bitching about the system so therefor I guarantee you’re just a lazy kid who doesn’t know what he/she is talking about.
Prove me wrong.
I’m a 30 year old generational Caymanian and have worked in both of those fields, never had an issue finding a job. Perhaps you should look within to find the source of your problems.
Anecdotes are not sufficient evidence to make a generalisation.
I think the problem is in the middle. Did you show up on time for the interview and not cancel? Did you dress appropriately and speak with kindness?
So you were working as an accountant and moonlighting in hospitality but then wanted a third job? Which you would do when, exactly? Sorry, doesn’t sound entirely credible, but even if it is true I could see why the third employer might have some concerns about how much time you could commit.
I doubt that very much. When the hospitality industry is paying $4 an hour with the so called minimum wage being made up with tips. How can people be expected to live on peanuts. People who are not from Cayman would call it slave labour.
Must have been a dumb expat family overpaying their helper…
11:04 pm, that’s not true,helper making 24,000 ci per year, that’s 2,000 per month, no helper in these Cayman Islands makes that much and now making more than double 24,000 working in a Bar, unbelieveable
It seems to me we have some right and wrong on both sides here. I truly believe the tourism industry as a whole would benefit from offering more attractive pay and thereby attracting more local participation and buy in. If the product is good, tourist customer’s will pay the extra and everyone wins. The low pay only invites importation of cheap labour.
On the other hand, many of these jobs should not be considered careers and will never pay enough to sustain a household. Many are *entry level*. Meaning, your aim shouldn’t be to remain in that position but use it to learn and move up. In my work experience, 40 years, it’s always been that way. Nothing has changed. No offence to service workers, but most of what you do can be done by almost anyone. I used to work in a restaurant so I speak from experience. Aim to manage or serve the industry as a supplier or use it as a stepping stone to something greater.
The idea that Caymanians are not benefiting from tourism is myopic. There are literally hundreds of businesses that support the tourism industry and thousands of Caymanians collectively working in those support businesses. All sorts of maintenance, supply, marketing, legal, construction and government jobs are created indirectly from the tourism industry. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water, we need a thriving tourism industry that works and is fair to everyone.
You’ve omitted a very important factor; the housekeeing staff of hospitality services used to be filled almost completely with Caymanians who have or are near retirement age. That is, until $6.00/hour and imported labour hit.
CITA is a business owner’s club, like the Chamber of Commerce, and not an employee justice advocacy group. They don’t get to tell employees the sky is blue while they count their profits. What a farce that they even get the podium to opine.
Seriously folks 4.50 per hour for jobs where tips are possible and 6.00 per hour minimum wage in other professions. Neither speak well for the wage laws in the Cayman Islands.
I agree those are WAY TOO LOW! and look how expensive it is to live here. Raise them and even the rich people will be having a tough time!
The Cayman Islands tourism product is diluted. When we the Caymanian people and our lawmakers and decision-makers get serious about putting Caymanian first then we will see real results like back in the 70s & 80s when Caymanians deliver the services.
My question to CITA president Marc Langevin is how many Caymanians Ritz Carlton has on his Guidance Management Team? and why is the first Ritz Carlton scholarship recipient Stefan Ebanks not working for Ritz Carlton?
Our Government policymakers are spineless cowards when comes to protecting their Caymanian people.
Frame the law that the government agencies can audit their books at any time and if any unlawful discrepancies found charge them heavy fines. They are exploiting the Caymanians and as soon as they voice their rights they are let go and replace with cheap Labour. It is too easy to get a permit.
Our enforcement arm is very weak.
is putting caymanians first part of the plan when they close the borders for 2 years and destroy all of the small caymanian owned tourism businesses? The government did this, not covid. Places have been open for tourism since July 2020. Cayman is a bubble that doesn’t care about their tourism workers.
The financial industry is clearly what carries Cayman…not tourism.
Just wait until Global Taxation is implemented, then you will be begging for them to open the borders for the tourist.
5:10 not in your wildest dreams
It’s happening this year, new sheriff in Washington is agreeing with the Europeans on it.
They will screw the little countries and a few big firms like Amazon and Google but use the new regime to tilt things in their favour.
What. Caymanian owned tourist businesses? You mean like Red Sail Sports? Those big businesses, overwhelmingly reliant on cheap imported labor, already made most of the small guys marginal at best.
Hmm, not sure about that. Caymanians find it beneath then to serve others. FULL STOP.
I don’t blame them, I do too.
Especially when you can get a monthly stipend from the government for not working at all because you used to work in the sector. Irrespective of why you are not working now, or even if you have another job. But we will continue throwing rocks at the sector for hiring people actually prepared to turn up and work for the jobs that Caymanians have spat on.
That’s entirely your privilege. Just don’t bitch about those who do. Don’t complain about job and the wage that someone else is prepared to do that you wouldn’t touch if offer it on a silver platter ani issue that seems entirely list to the “ expats tile our jobs ( that we weren’t prepared to do anyway) brigade.
Those that wish to be great shall be your servants.
Pride comes before the fall.
An entitled attitude like yours needs to be abolished.
Whatsoever you do, do it to the best of your ability and don’t murmur.
A man or a woman’s talents will make room for them.
This is the fundamental issue. Sign of the times. We are encouraging self-absorbed behavior from people who are already self-absorbed. Societies are built on serving each other caymanians or otherwise, why are we expecting to take the easy road. I agree a fair war should be paid but we need to learn a good work ethic as well. We need outside money to keep up the lifestyle and overnight tourism has proven to bring return investors.
8:42 lies, lies, and more lies
Bottom line is that no Caymanian working in hospitality can make enough the buy a decent house and send their kids to a decent school. All the profits go to the multinational non-Caymanian owners. Cayman does not need tourism. Train the Caymanian workers to be accountants and lawyers.
Plumbers, mechanics, carpenters, electricians, roofers etc. paid very well in states.
One thing about being an accountant/auditor in a large accounting firm you don’t know- after 5-7 years of running a mental marathon, working 10-12 hours a day, many are so drained physically and mentally, they quit.
Sure they are paid well in the States. Here they are imported and paid $6.00 an hour.
4:51 Key component of your comment “in states”. This is Cayman, it doesn’t apply here buddy
7:29 they are not ready for that conversation and you can bet that all the thumbs down are the foreigners who come here.
You don’t “train” people to become lawyers and accountants. The have to have to be smart, get good grades in high school, apply themselves and then apply for university. If they are accepted, they then have to get good grades, apply themselves through at least four years of university. If they get through that AND show they have the aptitude, then they can start a entry-level career as a lawyer or accountant. Then, after years of working long hours doing the least interesting work at a firm, if they show they have the aptitude and drive, they can advance. That’s the way it works. Some Caymanians have done just that and have taken advantage of the opportunities afforded them. Others are malcontents who complain they aren’t making millions as partners at 30.
Yep, because anyone, irrespective of natural aptitude or schooling, can be an accountant or a lawyer. They just have to want the pay, right?
We have a population of a very small town. How many accountants and lawyers do you think a population of 35000 people normally produces? I don’t know the answer to that, but I suspect it’s not the 1000 plus each registered lawyers and accountants here in Cayman. Even if we had an education system that produced kids that had decent grades.
To hustle on a job, listen to what you are saying and stop this nonsense. Pay the local a decent base regardless of the tips they will be getting and don’t expect the customers to pay the wages of the employees. Also stop importing cheap labour to the island, who does nothing for the islands but send the pittance back to their home country. Cayman it’s time to wake up.
I have worked in tourism in cayman for 7 years. I paid all of my tips into the bank and was given a mortgage for a 2 bed beach front condo. I have now paid that off and have just taken another mortgage to purchase land. Although my basic hourly wage is low with gratuity and tips I probably earn more than most Caymanians working for government.
You must be old as sin then because that doesn’t happen anymore.
It depends what you class as old as sin ! I am 43
Interesting, did you need anyone to co-sign for your mortgage?
Did you have to provide other security?
Was it a joint mortage or you as a single applicant?
(fingers crossed yours is proof it can be done)
Yess 7:15, say it louder for the people in the back!
Everyone here needs to understand how the tourism industry works. It is boom and bust, high season, low season etc. Look what happened to any island after a hurricane, tourism dies there for years until it is rebuilt.
These jobs are not highly skilled and the market does not support wages above what’s there except when business is really good; and that is when gratuities float the wages and get people paid. When business is slow it contracts. The alternative is layoffs every slow season.
People in hospitality from all over the world hop around to different markets and countries all over based on wages and growth and which countries are building new hotels and where the work and money is. This is not a problem unique to this country.
The difference here is that you think the Ritz should be paying everyone $40k per year to change bedsheets even when the beds aren’t being used. That’s just not how it works. If you do it that way, people will have fewer jobs and there will be frequent and severe layoffs all the time.
Think about this for a second: if a Jamaican comes here to be a housekeeper on a work permit, because business and pay etc is better here; why can’t a Caymanian housekeeper go off to a country open for tourism and doing better now? Everyone complains about all the expatriate hospitality staff but doesn’t realize Caymanians can expatriate to another country with a better market if you’d like.
The point is that we should not have to go elsewhere to “seek better” we should be able to get better in our own country.
Sorry. No. Travel the world and you’ll find people from all over the world working in hotels not in their own countries. The market dictates the wages and it dictates that they are low for the lowest end of the skill spectrum. That’s true by the way for jobs outside tourism. What if the only skill in the world that you had was turning on a light switch; should you get paid a high wage for that just because you deserve to be paid well in your own country to do so?
No. The market won’t pay you at all to turn on a light switch. The market will pay 4.50 plus tips to be a waiter or housekeeper. Sorry but that’s how the chips fall.
In your world and your world only mate.
We have a holiday home in France. Gratuity is included in all restaurant bills. One can leave an extra tip but it’s not required and my French friends mostly don’t.
Why not do the same here and put plainly on the menus and bills.
SERVICE INCLUDED, tips welcome but not required.
Then pay staff a higher basic wage.
Have you never been out to a hotel, restaurant or bar here? It is far more common to have gratuity included in Cayman than not.
Sunset house is the only restaurant I know not to automatically include gratuities.
John, 15% gratuity is included at almost every Resturant in Cayman, it’s rare to find one who doesn’t have it included in the bill these days. However, I completely agree with your comment. People in hospitality/food and beverage should be paid a better wage.The onus should not be on the customer to pay the employee.
There are a couple of restaurants here that charge gratuity on take out! They charge you gratuity to hand you a bag of food over the counter!
Agree with your comment John, a higher basic wage should be given. Honestly, you are hard pressed to find a server that provides such excellent service that you want to give them more than their 15% gratuity that is already included.
You should do it because you can go out and afford a nice night out.
2:14 because I work hard and can afford a night out does not make you entitled to get my money in grays, especially if you haven’t earned it. I don’t owe you a thing.
I agree I worked in tourisim most of my life and the only one that really benefit from grants is the management
All these people commenting negative things about tourism have zero understanding of basic economics and how tourism benefits our economy and lots of people in the lower to middle income bracket, and they also are extremely entitled and ungrateful. Most islands would love to have the tourism that cayman had before the lockdowns, but these commenters seem to not care about all of the unemployed people struggling and small businesses now failing.
Do any of you realise that the only reason that so many caymanians dont work in tourism is because they would rather work their fake over paid government jobs. Where do you think the government steals the money from to fund these fake jobs that they give to half the cayman population? Tourism is a huge tax revenue source for the government. And before some imbecile comments saying we dont need tourism and financial services alone is sufficient, I hope you realise that a few rich lawyers on island isnt benefiting the lower income people like tourism does. And all it takes is a few counrties like the US, UK and even the EU to blacklist Cayman and our entire financial service industry could be crushed, so maybe diversification in the economy isnt a bad thing.
Most of the lower income people you refer to are themselves imports. Your blessed industry, and more particularly the way it has been operated, has been destroying the very fabric of Caymanian society.
8.54pm – tell that to the thousands of caymanians who work in tourism and own small businesses that rely on the free flow of people into Cayman. In what world is reducing Cayman’s GDP a good economic policy?
In the real world. If that GDP is generated at less than subsistence level wages, the shortfall has to be met by society. Better not to have the jobs (or the foreign workers that held them) than to be overcrowded and have to subsidize the shortfall. If the cost of living is $10.00 and the pay is $6.00, the country has to cover the $4.00 gap. Better to have no gap, a luxury we have given the imported minimum wage workforce.
4.48pm – if you believe that the cayman economy is better off by rejecting the hundreds of millions of dollars that come in each year from tourism, then we can end this conversation because you are too uneducated to discuss this topic with.
You should have run for parliament
9.51pm – I’m legally not allowed to because I’m white and the Cayman laws don’t allow white caymanians who don’t have two generations before them in Cayman to run for parliament.
No such thing as a white Caymanian.
White in the head must be.
6.29pm – a white caymanian is a caymanian who was born in cayman, but since his parents weren’t also born here, he is discriminated against by the “local” caymanians and isn’t allowed to run for political office.
What? No such thing as White Caymanian?
Lower income people from overseas you mean? Caymanians are routinely failed in a multitude of ways, but let’s be honest, the imported low wage workers living ten to a house in Georgetown aren’t exactly cycling their earnings through the local economy.
10:17 Exactly 🙄
You contradict yourself in your comment. Diversification in Cayman does not mean tourism. Read Miller -Shaw report. Cayman needs to develop industries aside from financial sector and mass tourism. But…other than SMB, which is almost gone, it has nothing to stand on, figuratively speaking.
If not for the Dump in the prime tourism area and overdevelopment on SMB, Cayman could have focused on ecologically pristine, boutique style tourism- charging twice what they charge now.
Unfortunately “mass catering mentality” is cemented in people’s minds. And frankly, there is nothing Cayman can offer now to rich and famous, not even peaceful and quiet environment to unwind-mini Miami all the way.
Have you looked at this island? The beach and water is beautiful but if it was possible to develop a profitable tourist product from our swamp and bush with no elevation to speak of someone would have done it.
We don’t really have any enviable tourist assets besides the water and beach.
Mastic Trail, Crystal and Pirate caves? What else do you want to sell?
5.13am – so you think the solution is to destroy the tourism industry by closing borders for 2 years for a virus that has a 99.997% survival rate, where the average age of death from covid is older than the average life expectancy. You are all complaints with no solutions. One thing you need to understand is reducing the Cayman Islands economy GDP by hundreds of millions of tourist dollars is hurting thousands of caymanians.
Let’s hear the banks confirm whether tips are included as part of income for mortgage purposes.
Let’s hear the tourism industry confirm how much their workers have received in tips over the past 12 months.
Anyone know a tourism worker who took maternity leave? I wonder how many $14.00 hours they were paid during that 3 month absence.
not to mention the employer only covers the SHIC health plan (which is basically the same as no health coverage).
CITA are cheating both workers and customers while loading their pockets on a forced gratuity spread – sometimes 18%. A bonus is extra, it’s not part of normal comp even if it’s later added as a portion of total comp. To pretend they are the same is a lie.
This is absolutely spot on. The scumbag owners have taken a leaf out of the USAs rule book and are making the best of the both worlds. Pay crap wages, charge a service charge of extortionate amount for pouring beers and then complain workers are not being tipped enough.
Disgusting.
Yep! And how come nobody is talking about how much of that % is being paid to the server and how much is used to pay the kitchen/back of house! Even at the hotels. The server serving you does NOT get much of that 15%. So even though you are paying a stipend for grat on your total bill upon check out, Some of the % on your dinner/bar bill also goes to the rest of the staff. (Used to be 11% to the server but not sure what it is now)
I used to work at Grand Old House back when Chef Tell was the owner. We got 3% of the 15% added to the bill. That’s how he paid his kitchen (AND the chefs were highest paid of all). I was shown a 3″ stack of complaints at the Labor Board about it but NOTHING was ever done. I would bet money that nothing changed when the owners changed hands. Laughing all the way to the bank.
CITA, you don’t really need that many permits. There are thousands of willing and able Caymanians, and hundreds would have been perfect, if only your members had provided them with reasonable opportunity, encouragement and training over the last 20 years. You chose not to. Shame on you.
Then why only 50 caymanians apply to work for the the Ritz while they are looking for least 500….the problem is some caymanians who only want to work from 9 to 4 weekdays only.
Because I talked to other Caymanians that worked there, did not like what I heard about the employer, got a job somewhere else that paid a square wage. Fair pay for fair work. – As a Caymanian I have the option to choose the best employer I can find for myself in my country. Its not the hotels like the Ritz.
If they want to hire Caymanians they need to be better employers. You can find the companies full of Caymanian employees and thats the sign of a good employer. And those good employers will continue to attract good Caymanian employees. Not whatever results CITA tortured out of a survey.
Agree. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I think sometimes it is worth repeating: 15 years ago, most of the hospitality industries and dive companies were filled with Caymanians.
Then, the greedy owners discovered that they could purchase indentured servants from overseas, and pay them $6.00/hour, which they were willing to suffer to live on, but would never be a living wage for a Caymanian.
Here we are, expected to feel sorry for the po’ po’ CITA members and their suffering economic loss. I get that they are FINALLY looking for local workers, but still offering a shitty wage that might incline an otherwise hard-working person to just rest on NAU for a while, thus reinforcing the narrative that Caymanians don’t want to work.
Caymanians want to work. They want to get a fair wage for their efforts, as we once did in the past. Business owners discovered that WP holders were more controllable, and they didn’t bitch about their poor living conditions.
Well, folks, we need to do BETTER than that. We need to provide a wage that is sufficient to provide a living for local workers. Let us require a 3% shearing of the enormous profits that the hotel and restaurant owners make, and pay our people what they are worth, as we once did.
We need WP folk, and they shouldn’t be vilified. We will always need expats. Our focus should not be upon paying a living wage to local workers while we are building up our islands again.
Downvoted for the truth. WP holders will live half a dozen to a room, not have their pensions paid, work for absolutely nothing and still have money to send home because they accept those conditions.
We should not be a country that is accepting of importing wage slaves to undercut the local population for profit.
They will also live within their means and not buy phones/cars they can’t afford just to give an illusion of success
@Beaumont Zodecloun
’15 years ago, most of the hospitality industries and dive companies were filled with Caymanians?’
That’s certainly not my recollection and I’ve been diving these islands since 1992. Over the years I’ve dived with numerous different companies (many of them now long-gone) and I can’t remember one that had any more than a token Caymanian on staff. In fact the majority of them were 100% ex-pat run.
15 years ago my partner at the time worked for a Caymanian-owned dive centre. The only non-ex-pat you ever saw there was the owner’s son and he only made token visits so he could show off driving the dive boat, he didn’t actually work there. She made US$1200-1400 a month plus commission – that’s a long way off $14 an hour isn’t it?
I also remember a number of attempts being made to attract Caymanians into the industry. With wages like that it not surprising they failed is it?
Beaumont – you are spot on. It is down to poor employers rather than poor employees. If the tourism sector had free movement of all staff it would force employers to provide better conditions and help remove the indentured servant paradigm. It will never happen as the Politicians are in the pockets of the employers.
‘It will need to hire an additional 500 people but so far just 50 Caymanians have applied there for a job’
That blows your argument right out of the water. CAYMANIANS DO NOT WANT TO WORK IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY! There isn’t the perceived prestige and status in it.
8:52 you know absolutely NOTHING about the struggle of my people. Until you are in our shoes do not speak on it. There are MANY Caymanians willing and waning to work in the industry but are DENIED for you and your expat friends. I see this happening daily and it is absolutely disgusting.
8:04 Yes, this is happening every single day. Foreigners know nothing of our struggle, they come here to make a quick buck, say they lived the island experience, and go back to where they came from. However, it is us locals that pay the price when we cannot find work at home. I studied hospitality and tourism, however, when I came back home I could not get a job. I applied to our tourism sector, the Ritz Carlton, Holiday Inn, etc. Some I did not even receive a call or email from,
(even when I followed up) and others just flat out denied me. People who do not know the struggle are quick to throw mud on us, but sometimes being Caymanian is a curse in our own island.
Maybe if you looked at yourself in the mirror and improved your attitude and work ethic you would get hired and then promoted.
6:00 how can they improve anything if they are not being hired to begin with? Do shut up.
What a lie! I have been a worker in tourism for over 12 years and the most I made as a manager was 12ci an hour. No one is making 14ci an hour unless they are a manager. There have been many time’s that I make amazing money during high season and then worry about how I’m going to eat and pay the rent during slow season. What a lie! Also Caymanians aren’t applying right now because there is no date for the boarders to open yet. They need a job now not months from now with a promise that they might have the job then. Start the jobs at 15ci per hour and I bet you they would get lots of local/Caymanians applying for the job. Honestly do away with tipping and pay people a decent wage. There is so much mental stress that comes from wondering if you’ll get tipped enough today to pay your family’s food later on. Pay a living wage!!!!
In 2019, last full year before covid, i averaged $32 hour over the whole year working in a restaurant on 7 mile beach as a server. Im sure some places it is more than this.
Bet the advert or your work permit application didn’t reflect that. Did it?
I doubt it. It usually says $4.50 plus grats.
Exactly. You understand that failing to accurately describe benefits in a work permit advert is actually a crime?
That what i get paid, 4.50 an hour plus grats. Nobody can look into the future and know how much grats a server will make in the following 12 months,somthing like Covid might happen which will obviously lower grats. therfore no crime i would say
That’s awesome good for you…still need to start base pay at 15ci an hour. Also others made a good point, the low base pay also doesn’t pay a lot into your pension. After 12 years my pension didn’t have a lot of funds in it…the amount I had after 12 years would only cover a half a year of living.
You must be in the states, because I know is na ya
Also just so everyone understands 15ci an hour is $28,800 per year, that’s $2400 a month. Think about that, it’s still not a lot. (This amount is not including what they take out for pension or health) Basic wage $6ci and hour is $11,520 per year or $920 per month. To rent a two bedroom place right now is about 2000-2400 per month. Even at 15ci and hour you’re barely making rent. Also these hotels were given approval to be built with the idea that they would hire 70% Caymanian (I think that was the number is was supposed to be). If they can’t pay locals a living wage, then the hotels shouldn’t be running.
Gratuities are weird to begin with. Only in the service industry.. They have lost all meaning because they are included now in the bill and expected regardless of the service level. It’s 2021, eliminate gratuities and just blend it into the price and raise the pay. Smoke an mirrors done. Tip on top of that if you feel like it.
With no disrespect. The 50 caymanians are they our Grass Roots Born and Bread Raised Caymanians?. When were the last time our young Grass Roots Born and Bread Raised Native young caymanians 18 years of age or older?. Purchased a home from working in the Bartender, restaurant or hotel industry or even just walking around in the hot sun like beggers waving signs on George Town Dock Terminal advertising for tour companies or private individuals?. With no disrespect. Who are we opening for? Our average little Grass Roots Caymanians have not being benefiting from the tourism industry for years now. Maybe our Grass Roots tour bus operators and a few of our Taxi Drivers yes. Even times upon times they have being talking out on different of our medias. About the unfair treatment how a certain nationality status holders taking their tours and passengers and that they are so greedy and their behaviours is unacceptable. And that they have other jobs such as prison officers and police officers and how they can work as taxi drivers and tours operators. And how can they perform or do their work properly as prison officers and police officers. But the question remain what about our other Grass Roots caymanians that is being left out that need to eat and pay their bills also?. Will the CITA make it be the dream for the Grass Roots Caymanians in the tourism industry this time around now?. Or the dream for the permit holders again?
I’m wondering if you can define Grass Roots Born and Bread (Bred I think it what you mean) Raised Native Young Caymanians. My mother married an American but her family is “generational”. Also we lived in the US for a couple years during my childhood. Am I a Grass Roots Born and Bred Raised Native Young Caymanian? Or did my mom blow it marrying outside her nationality?
I bought a house at 25 as a F&B Server. Generational Caymanian. It was harder to get a loan because banks don’t trust the gratuity system but I had proof of depositing a certain amount every month of cash tips. It can work, just need to be smart about it.
Well said! This is the crux of the matter. Gratuities are no longer a reward for good service, but are now simply an automatic money grabbing device for greedy proprietors. It maddens me when establishments automatically add 15%, 18% 20% or more to your bill and then still leave a space on the credit card slip for unsuspecting tourists to add a tip!! This is an out and out con. The proprietors are clearly hoping that the customer has not noticed that a service charge has already been added and are expecting that a significant percentage of customers will fall for adding another 15% on top (especially after a few drinks at dinner)!! In my opinion this is not good business practice, this is deception and borderline dishonest.
Why should a business proprietor get away with paying their staff the bare minimum and leave it to their customers to increase this to a living wage? In this way the proprietor gets away with minimum responsibility to their staff in slow periods and their staff have to ride out the financial slow downs, it’s most unfair and frankly ridiculous in this day and age.
Also, would I not be correct in thinking that the employer is responsible for paying 5% of the employee’s salary into a pension scheme? In which case I presume that this is 5% of the low level basic pay and is not increased to take into account the value of service charges/gratuities etc. I see no mention of this in the sweeping, rosy figures stated by CITA! As “5:03” said, it is all smoke and mirrors projected by self serving proprietors and their industry association.
The tip section on the credit card bill is for people who would like to leave a few dollars extra if they want, not to con people, as it is clearly written on the bill that gratuity is included. lots of people where i work like to leave a little extra, particularly Caymanians and Fillipinos, less so wealthy expats.
7:58 I agree, this maddens me as well. There have been times that the service was so poor that I actually deducted the 15% that was added to my bill. I am not paying gratuity when your server is rude, rolling their eyes, completely ignored our mentioned food allergy, and overall had a horrific attitude.
Reflecting on the experience my family and I have often said we should have left the establishment. However we had already had our appetizers (which were lovely) and ordered our food. Never been back since though.
Sounds like my experience at Ragazzi.
Coronavirus: This is not the last pandemic. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52775386
Plan accordingly. I’d get out of tourism business on small islands entirely. COVID pandemic has demonstrated the risks.
Island nations /territories the only way in our out is to fly.
You are posting an article that is a year old!
Does not change the fact that corona is not the last pandemic on planet Earth.
Good luck with recruiting if it would require a mandatory vaccination. Should a government make the vaccine mandatory, then there should be some compensation to people who suffer injury or death arising from it.
they can still CHOSE NOT to have it, they can work somewhere else if they are so opposed. STOP playing victim.
What I am trying to say that even without mandatory vaccination it will be difficult to recruit staff from overseas.
Many who left on repatriation flights were broke or in debt. I doubt that they will return.
With borders still closed they would not make enough money to even pay rent, let alone make a living and save some. Anti-expats attitude would deter many others.
Broke or in debt? I thought they all had jobs paying a minimum $14.00 an hour?
7:33 Good.
LOL – they can only make a wage to survive if the customers subsidize their wages through gratuities. Time the employer paid a living wage and left it to the customer to choose to tip for good service. It’s not like the hotels, bars and restaurants aren’t gouging their customers in the first place.
You have no idea what your talking about. Another Caymanian professional with no experience.
You don’t belong to us. I can tell by your derision for the state of the common Caymanian, the person who desperately wants to work to support themselves and their family, but cannot compete with the suffering expats that can somehow survive on $6.00/hour.
Have a heart for your people, unless your people live elsewhere. 4:41 is spot on. This is the truth of our situation now. The hoteliers claim poverty, but they really want the payout to their shareholders to be similar to what it was before the virus. Well, the world has changed. A living wage. Exactly right. Tips should go to the server, not to the SYSTEM.
Immigration enforcement. Please check the adverts for these positions which we are now told pay more than $14.00 an hour. I do not recall any adverts making that clear, but they must have, or you would have arrested people, right?
Enforcement? There is no stinking enforcement! How the hell do you think we got into this mess?
Perhaps the Anti Corruption Commission can explain how whole industry groups seem to be exempted from entire laws?
As someone who has worked in the industry for years I can categorically say that the claim that everyone is making no less than 14 dollars per hour is a flat out lie.
I will agree with that. But you also need to understand that the right person in the right restaurant can make 100k a year.
not according to the work permit applications that got those people that position, and keep them there.
YUP, and I know a few who do.
Expats don’t want the secret to get out.
YOU HAVE TO HUSTLE and HAVE AN AWESOME personality tho.
You also need to work double shifts at 12 – 14 hrs, 6 days a week.
Caymanians won’t do that. And that’s why they’re not in the industry
Then you’re working in a crappy place that will probably be out of business soon. Do the math!