Around 600 temp workers help spruce up islands
(CNS): During the three-week long National Community Enhancement (NiCE) project, which ended Thursday, around 600 unemployed people worked in every district sprucing the place up for the holidays. They cleared beach accesses points, cleaned up beaches and cemeteries, improved road markings, supported solid waste management, and helped the elderly in their yards.
The workers also provided support to several government departments and public authorities, including Facilities Management Department, Agricultural Society, Mosquito Research and Control Unit, National Roads Authority, Public Works Department and the Department of Environmental Health.
Infrastructure Minister Jay Ebanks, who is currently isolating after testing positive for COVID-19, sent a message of thanks to the workers and organisers.
“I want to encourage everyone across our Island to continue to maintain the clean and pleasant environment that the NiCE crew have started,” he said. “The ministry looks forward to continued partnerships with the public and private sector in delivering this important programme as we build stronger communities and support the most vulnerable.”
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, participants in the NiCE project were required to undergo rapid lateral flow tests throughout their involvement in the programme.
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Category: Community, Jobs, Local News
I was very impressed with the clean-up this year it is the cleanest I have seen WB Central, South and West, but the same cannot be said about WB North. The road sides, in Barkers/Mount Pleasant which is usually cut by NRA is still overgrown and has been since GRACE. I wonder if the Representative responsibility for this area will ever visit the area before the next election? Hon. Kathyann Wilks you are doing a great job for your people. Mckeeva job should be easier because of you. Proud of you 👍 I wish you could be cloned because WB could use three more Kathyann’s👏🌹👍
Agree that the Brac crew does a super job. However, it is heavily tied to the drug kingpins.
WHAT???
So ‘drug kingpins’ dictate how well a person chops bush and cleans the side of the road???
I think your point is hollow. If a few people burn some ganja (don’t know if they do or don’t) but still work their asses off for the beautification of the island, who are you to judge them?
I only know that I wouldn’t work as hard as they do for the money they make.
You be you.
Can someone clarify this is a minimum wage job? I’ve heard that some people call in sick to their minimum wage jobs to go do this work for a better payout.
Who verifies that they’re actually unemployed?
Having seen some of these “workers” I can understand why they’re unemployed – I saw 5 of them holding garbage bags while one did the sweeping
The Brac crews are just doing a fantastic job. Keep them in work and less the need for NAU assistance and its a win win situation.
Tourism stipend recipients should have been doing this all year round
How many years until we paint and stencil the partial bike lanes? Who is the project manager?
Can they put the big rocks back they moved at Smith Cove to stop cars parking on the beach
Parking any vehicle on Smith Cove is a breach of the restrictive covenants on the parcel of land that was transferred by the Webster family.
8:33 am, that is a great suggestion. Unfortunately, great suggestions fall on deaf governmental ears.
It would be a good suggestion for the Premier to read section 18 of the Bill of Rights, which is headed “Protection of the Environment”.
It might be the case that Jon Jon Seymour might be better at sorting this issue. Which makes the point that, if we want to do good for Cayman, we will have to take action ourselves. PACT is certainly not going to do it.
I can see Heather Bodden out there now with her mop and broom chasing behind them. Seems to me she was elected to literally “clean up”. I live in Savannah and haven’t seen her since before Election Day, she never even can to my house to ask for my vote. I guess that means I’m irrelevant. I hear she has popped up in a few of the more populated areas, making sure that voter average doesn’t fall I guess.
who is responsible for doing all this work the rest of the year?
Those temp workers should be in full time employment and should not be assisted by NAU.
All NAU has caused is liability to government. Those receiving help should be re-assed and weed out the convenience seekers, whom we have adopted.
No one.
How many of these 600 are tourism employees who lost their jobs, but got another one and still claimed their “stipend” and are now claiming a “bonus”.
I would like to congratulate the crews’ activities in Bodden Town. Painting around piles of garbage is areal skill.
It works to paint around garbage, in the hope that nasty residents will clean up their areas. The painting was done by the BT Action Team.
Kind of makes you understand why they’re unemployed in the first place
600 people get paid to do what PWD and the NRA get paid to supposedly do all year round.
Actually a fair portion of their pay is to pick up up after our nasty residents who cannot take their own garbage home instead of leaving it at the road side/beach/cemetary/etc.
4:32 pm nasty residents-imported. Thank you. Where I live, I see it daily. Not just littering, but urinating on the side of the road.
Please try to find out the roles of PWD and NRA before making such a ridiculous statement. 🙄
Again amazes me how many people sign up.
Are these people actually unemployed and looking for jobs? Do these people have another job and are just slacking it to do this? Are they not working (ie, too old, sick, ect)?
I just dont get how so many sign up
Well, you see, they are willing to do work that the tourism industry says they are not willing to do…
Exactly. Or they make the wages and conditions untenable on purpose. But a 3rd world expat will grab it up!
Does it really matter? If someone is willing to do this work for this pay, they probably need it. I wonder why it’s just at this time of year that we do this; why not keep them going all year and in the process get the place looking good and figure out how to budget it.
We seem to be able to fund projects that appear less important than district beautification.
This program while have good intentions. Does not show true unemployed Caymanians. Am sorry but It gets the Caymanians who only want to work for a moment not full time. If you look at the faces that do this every year from it started its 80% the same crowd. And is person who look for money for now not for later. And then you have the person whom are employed but is contract workers and use this to make extra cash. Great idea but is not real repisentation of unemployed Caymanians.
How is it even possible that someone who is Caymanian and is willing to work for minimum wage can be “unemployed”. The unemployed Caymanian is as rare as the yeti, bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster.
Needs to be a permanent workforce paid per sack of rubbish collected
And needs to be Vaccinated (or medically exempt) Caymanians only.
Why? Real science please
Because it is a social welfare program intended to help Caymanians, and yet large numbers of foreign nationals participate. Every dollar spent on a foreign national is literally a dollar less available for Caymanians in need.
It is a proven fact that vaccination substantially decreases the prospects of hospitalization as a result of COVID. Hospitalization is very expensive, and that expense is Bourne by the residents of the Islands. Government should be doing all it can to protect the welfare of the people, and the people’s money.
Helen drive in GT would be a gold mine then : plenty rubbish, as one enters Helen drive, all you see is garbage all the way up. Truly dirty there.
Any other residents of Cayman think this is a good idea?
We on average each pay $7300 for CIG wages a year. I’d like to see that money used to clean the place.