Board chair says bosses are abusing WP process

| 24/03/2022 | 395 Comments
Richard Barton

(CNS): Richard Barton, chair of the Business Staffing Plan Board (BSPB), said in a letter to the labour minister that he had seen clear evidence of employers abusing Cayman’s work permit process and dodging their legal responsibility to recruit and retain Caymanian workers or those with a Residency and Employment Rights Certificate (RERC) before seeking work permits for overseas staff.

In a direct letter to Minister Chris Saunders, Barton pulls no punches, writing that some employers are deliberately shutting out local people in favour of permit holders.

“The BSPB has noted what it perceives as a clear abuse of the process by some applicants that, for whatever reason, appear more determined to either recruit from abroad or retain their incumbent work permit holder at the expense of the Caymanian and holder of a RERC counterpart,” Barton said in the letter that was leaked to the Cayman Compass.

Barton stressed that there is a systemic problem that can no longer be ignored. He said that legislative reform is urgently needed to do something about the continued abuse of the work-permit system that is undermining career chances for Caymanians. Employers have a misguided perception that getting a work permit is a “right rather than a privilege”, he noted.

The leaked letter reveals the depth of Barton’s concerns about the situation and his frustrations about the pressure that employers are trying to exert on the board, which deals directly with the permit applications from the Cayman Islands’ largest employers.

He accused some of them of deliberately shutting out “eligible Caymanians” and residents with the right to work to pave the way for permit applications.

“This practice now appears to be systemic with some applicants that have operated in the Cayman Islands for several decades and demonstrated no desire to employ Caymanians,” Barton stated. “This is not a novel encounter and to suggest otherwise can only be regarded as an act of willful blindness.”

The letter was written on 1 March but was leaked in the wake of recent comments by the premier that the government may have got the balance wrong in its efforts to get locals into the workforce by holding up permits.

His comments appeared to deviate from those made by Saunders last month when he said that permit applications were going to be scrutinized and the ‘Cayman first’ policy meant that getting permits was “not going to be as easy and as automatic as people had it before”.

CNS was unable to reach Saunders on Thursday, but the minister told the Compass that he stood by Barton’s comments as he, too, believed reform was needed.

“It is no secret that some medium-to-large employers have not consistently provided opportunities to Caymanians who are qualified, experienced, willing to work and progress. This culture needs to change. Our people must be given those opportunities as required by law,” he said.

“These historical challenges existed well before the election of the PACT Government. As in every crisis, there are always opportunities to learn. The global pandemic allowed us to take a very hard look at not only the unemployment trends but also the trends in underemployment,” he added.

Over the first two weeks of this year, more than a quarter of permit applications were refused or deferred and there is a growing backlog of applications as a result of various factors, Barton explained. But a major issue is incomplete or incorrect applications, as well as the efforts by employers to buck the system.

But Barton did not ignore the other side of the coin, pointing out that there were areas across the labour market that simply don’t attract much attention from local workers, and as a result those employers need to seek out permits. He said a longer-term goal would be to examine those reasons and generate more interest from locals.

Barton said that with the increased demand now for hospitality workers, even as the BSPB was moving towards meeting three days a week, without a change in the law it would struggle to process the mountain of permit applications needed for tourism-related jobs.

But he said the financial services, retail and real estate sectors had failed to absorb locals applying for jobs in those areas and work was needed to address that. Construction is another key industry that was not taking available Caymanians, he said, which undermines the justification for the excessive and increasingly unpopular development that it creates jobs for local people.

Setting out a myriad of issues, Barton made several recommendations to improve the business staffing plan process and said the starting point had to be a review of the law. But he also said the WORC portal needed to be revised and urged more training for WORC enforcement staff to follow up the many reports from local job seekers.

See the letter in full in the CNS Library.


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Category: Jobs, Local News, Policy, Politics

Comments (395)

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  1. D. Truth says:

    Quote: “With no change in schooling and parenting, that will not change for many Caymanians.” I have said that for years, and as far as I can see, there has been no change! Why not? Because our leaders haven’t done squat. Why haven’t they made changes to have young Caymanians able to step up and make the Cayman Islands productive?

  2. Anonymous says:

    That sorry excuse for a letter has Saunders soundbites written all over it.

  3. Rupert says:

    Is Mr Barton some kind of a time traveller?? The following from the first line of the entire letter: Thank you for the opportunity to meet and discuss some of the challenges the Business Staffing Plan Board has experienced since its composition on 1st OCTOBER 2022….always check the detail Rich!

    • Anonymous says:

      If you gonna write a scathing letter, for Gods sake don’t get the detail wrong as soon as you get out the gates. Something like the date of composition is crucial. Sure you are the Chairman. Causes one to question your attention to all the other details and whether you there is accuracy. Come on Rich you can afford a proof reader.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Another PACT sh1t show in a dumpster fire. I guess that’s the change everyone voted for. Here are the problems; which of course Richard Barton already knew:

    1. Nobody is going to work for less than US$10 per hour when their politician can insure they will get $1,500 per month for doing nothing and they can still do their side hustle. The solution? Increase the minimum wage to a livable wage but the Chamber of Commerce will not allow PACT to do that. (And you all thought Lodge ran Cayman?).
    2. Whatever the minimum wage, there are people from other countries happy to come here to work for much less. Employers know that, so they will lie and cheat and do whatever is necessary to get and keep their cheap labour.
    3. PACT, like every other government, cannot give up the work permit revenue cold turkey.
    4. Cheap labour for business also has a symbiotic relationship with sub-standard housing. Big PACT supporters (they are actually People-in-Power supporters) are also slum lords in addition to being business owners. Stop the permits and they will not be able to fill their sub-standard accommodations with these indentured servants.
    5. Sub-standard housing, because sometimes poor Caymanians live there, is often repaired at government’s expense, no questions asked, while the slum lords are laughing all the way to the bank.

    Every politician, whether they hold power today or not, knows what (or more accurately they know who) caused the stench associated with work permits. However, until their love of country is greater than their love of power (I can only offer Ezzard and Marco as examples at this time) then politicians will continue to accept the money required for them to win an election from those who will set the policies after the election.

  5. angel_tibbets says:

    Nothing will change unless WORC goes after the big boys. Once you fine them – that will send a message to everyone else. I cant tell you how many stories ive heard of their abuse of the process.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Why would a company want to pay permit fees when they could hire a Caymanian? Not quite understanding that.

    • Anonymous says:

      @10:38am..Simple..You can control a work permit holder and work them for nothing. Second work permits are cheap especially when some work permit holders are forced to pay for their own permits. Third some employers on the upper end will not hire Caymanians or will only hire a token amount to keep the Government off their backs, simply because they prefer to hire non Caymanians..in their minds Caymanians, well educated or not should never be a part of their organizations. The work permits are set up on a system to put them on a path to citizenship in Cayman compliments of the former PPM Government making Caymanians outnumbered in their own country.

      Until we change the culture with the private sector businesses and start enforcing the laws currently on the books instead of turning a blind eye nothing will ever change.

      I commend Mr. Barton for bringing it to light once again, nothing new, but unless this Government unlike past ones takes a stiffer stance this will only continue.

      What we fail to understand is that we are the laughing stock of some of these businesses. Some of them even have an in house legal department specifically to handle any objections of their work permits..the majority of them are on work permit themselves..

    • Anonymous says:

      Employers have tremendously more power over work permit holders than they do Caymanians, who have a tendency to run crying to the labour board at any opportunity.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Lets start imposing fines and reject all permit applications for continual abusers. Lots of them out there.

  8. Anonymous says:

    I agree that some companies really manipulate to stop hiring Caymanians. I have seen roles such as “Exec” Asst and compliance roles be given to expats with crazy qualification requirements and then the company goes and pays for training for that person anyway. It is unfair. In a broader sense though I think there are really problems on both sides. I have always been surprised in Cayman to not commonly see say a 16 to 18 year old working from the bottom up in the supermarkets and bars etc, waiting tables, building confidence, finding their personalities, having fun, experiencing that managers can be awful and unfair, is part of life. I had some really lowly jobs when I was 16 but in some ways best years of my life. There is more to life than office work and not everyone is suited to it. So I see two sides, the medium and large slippery companies need to be held under greater scrutiny but also let’s realize a 22 year old going straight into a mid level job without a whole lot of life experience may get passed over for a few years.

    • ANon says:

      You dont think there’s a second “industry” that the cute new Compliance Girls are filling?
      Literally.
      Half of them are recruited in parking garages back home.
      Ive seen it.
      Be compliant. Make lots of bucks. Rotate

  9. Anonymous says:

    As for the reason certain jobs dont attract caymanians check out the hours per month that staff at a certain hospital are required to work per month. I cant believe its not illegal. I dont think they even get overtime.

  10. Anonymous says:

    serious allegations that i hope he is prepared to back up and take the appropriate action.
    but talk is cheap….esp from from the incompetent civil service.
    i will bet everything i have that none of these allegations will ever be proven.
    the man is trying to cover his own failure and inaction….as the 10,000 people are now on defferred permits. cig will soon learn you cannot criple the proivate sector to this degree.

  11. Anonymous says:

    I am 100% sure that some businesses are abusing the system. But here is the simple fact, if the staffing board sees a clear abuse of the system, if it’s so blatantly obvious and clear that he can write this letter to the minister…then they ALREADY have the power to refuse the work permit.

    The system is absolutely not perfect, but sometimes it’s better the devil you know. Does this guy have his own agenda? What will the legislative reform look like? So far PACT has failed miserably at just about everything they’ve done, so what makes you think they’ll get immigration reform done correctly?

    The framework is already there to enforce the law and to refuse work permits where necessary. If these infractions are so blatant and obvious as he claims (I’d like to see examples with names etc removed for privacy) then he doesn’t need legislative reform.

    By the same token, we can’t have an inefficient immigration system crippling businesses of every type and size. Some companies do everything by the book 100% and try like crazy to hire Caymanians and they’re still getting deferrals and refusals. We once got a call from immigration after someone complained about not getting hired and being Caymanian…we had 4 applicants, all 4 were Caymanian, and the one we hired was Caymanian; but that didn’t stop one that didn’t get hired from assuming we pulled a permit for the job and throwing us under the bus and wasting everyone’s time.

    The Premier just admitted earlier in the week that they got the balance wrong. That’s after the other guys were on their high horse ranting about freezing work permits. They said that for one plain simple reason: to get re-elected. They have to shout “Caymanians First!” at the top of their lungs but this is just lip service. This board chair is no-doubt in the same boat and $100 says he runs for office after so publicly calling for legislative change now that he’s found all these supposedly egregious abuses of the system.

    It doesn’t smell right to me at all.

  12. Anonymous says:

    Geez read these comments…our government has caused this expectation by their reliance on permit fees. No wonder our guests have become so entitled.

    • Anonymous says:

      They’re not guests. They’re immigrants. Foreign hordes defiling it.

      • Anonymous says:

        Funny. I have never seen a party boat filled with expats ruining the day for everyone not with them, expats tossing trash on the roadside, or expats leaving a pile of rubbish on the beaches or illegaly dumping rubbish.

        Funny that no expats ever seem to be committing burgalries, robberies, assaults machete attacks, orshootings.

        Who could be doing all of these things? Who are these cretins defiling the island?

        • Anonymous says:

          You understand Jamaicans and Hondurans are expats too, right? Can you tell the difference between them and Caymanians?

          • Anonymous says:

            Stop the nonsense. You caymanians stuck in your old ways keep tossing heaps of garbage on the road side. It doesn’t look good. Just stop the blame game and look within. I’ve never seen a set of ppl so incapable of accepting their flaws. It must be someone else.

          • Anonymous says:

            Where were the people from that originally populated the islands?

  13. Anonymous says:

    “urged more training for WORC enforcement staff to follow up the many reports”. Can’t work scrutinize the applications for unnecessary skill requirements, increasing experience coinciding with renewal periods, aptitude tests being deciding factor between Caymanian and permit holder…
    How about at least stopping the slimy recruiters from chumming with anonymous applications in their names…actually just kick most of these blatant abusers back to wherever they are from.

    • Anonymous says:

      All Temp agencies should be just that and not be able to slide people into permanent jobs. Temporary W/permits should be for 3 months and those persons should not be able to get a permanent position.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Wow finally someone willing to speak the truth. For the last decade the governments have openly allowed companies to ignore or avoid Cayman applicants to the point where industry now believes the permit and it’s renewals are guaranteed upon payment of the fee. We have forgotten that the permit should be considered temporary until that position can be filled by a Caymanian. We are actually so accustomed to this that our own government recently begged employers to give Caymanians “equal opportunity” in their own country.
    WORC seems to have been created to enable efficient abuse not to deter it or mess with the important revenue stream.
    Recruitment agencies the worst offenders have flourished almost exclusively in the service of blatantly abusing the laws and regulations.

    • JJ says:

      No new news here. Been happening for last 30+ years.

    • Anonymous says:

      I get your point in general, but the idea that all permits are temporary until can be filled by a Caymanian is inherently flawed: there are more jobs than there are Caymanians, and industry is growing faster (by a lot) than the Caymanian population (organically). Therefore there will ALWAYS be some fairly large number of jobs that are always occupied by work permit holders. That in and of itself is not a problem, so focusing on the idea that they should all at some point be handed over to a Caymanian is a flawed argument.

  15. Anonymous says:

    That is a generalization, are you saying that all those employed Caymanians never showed up for their interview ? How did they get hired then ? its a small majority who do that and to drop that on the entire population is disingenuous and a lie! There are thousands of hard working responsible Caymanians out there who show up every day and do a hell of a good job.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Some using NAU and Tourism stipend to keep and maintain certain people here is a disgrace.

  17. Anonymous says:

    WORC needs to address the portal though. It is disgustingly bad and any “currently employed but interested in moving” Caymanian will be turned away at how bad the UX is for JobsCayman.

  18. Cayman Sanction says:

    What’s new this has been going for sometime now and the displacement of Caymanians by their very own has only encouraged and embolden others to do the same! Those trying to deliberately mislead and undermine Mr Barton’s findings are the same folks directly benefiting from this dire situation. It was hoped that one of the few silver linings in this Covid 19 pandemic’s situation was that it would offer a little reprieve or redress on this Cayman employment issue but instead we saw some very anti Caymanian rhetoric and hateful elements raise their heads and mouths in opposition to this. Coupled with the governing power shamelessly using it as an employment opportunity to plant and put their own kind in top positions with high paying salaries.Then topping it off with their Global Citizens Scam to add to our already difficult immigration woes and population ratio situation. Yes and we see the benefit for those who are complicit and compliant in disenfranchising their own people loyalty award and titles . Thank you Mr Barton for highlighting this dire situation for Caymanians in their own homeland.

  19. Anonymous says:

    What is an Employee, Richard Barton?

  20. Based Caymanian Pepe says:

    “It is no secret that some medium-to-large employers have not consistently provided opportunities to Caymanians who are qualified, experienced, willing to work and progress. This culture needs to change. Our people must be given those opportunities as required by law,” he said.”

    Medium to Large employers have plenty of Caymanians. It’s the small businesses that are full of Jamaicans, Filipinos and everyone else. Funnily enough most of them owned by Caymanians – their own worst enemy.

  21. Based Caymanian Pepe says:

    Imagine believing that politicians with their hands in the cookie jar are going to actual change anything that has a direct impact on them.

    Most of these politicians own, or have shares in the exact type of businesses that do nothing but employ cheap 3rd world labour. Good luck getting them to hold themselves accountable.

  22. Anonymous says:

    LOL

    This is like an arranged marriage, where a potential bride(an employer) has no word on who she want to marry. Even worse – if she refuses, she will be fined, some propose jailed, or punished in some harsh way. THIS IS BARBARIC. But hey, this is Cayman! The world’s Capital Of Ineptitude, Absurdity and all kind of Craziness.

    • Anonymous says:

      You’re an idiot…every country in the world has immigration regulations in place in part to provide some job security to it’s citizens…find one that doesn’t and go there you moron.

      • Anonymous says:

        Yet, they have the balls to call us entitled and then post a comment like that. I’ve seen more entitled behaviour from ex-pat workers than Caymanians. I guess if I was in a foreign tax-free jurisdiction, making 2 to 3 times more than I did back home, I would protect my job in any way possible.

      • Anonymous says:

        Well said..9:46am..I still find it hard to understand why people come here to live and work and believe that there should be no rules or regulations for them. The whole reason they are here for the most part is to escape the ills or taxes of their home country and to benefit from the many tax free jobs we have here.

        They love our milk and honey but refuse to live by the rules of our country and believe that we should change everything to suit them.

  23. Anonymous says:

    Would be nice to see some data to support Barton’s wild allegations. This narrative has been going on for decades yet no statistics or data is ever provided to back it up.

    Without data – evidence, not anecdotes – to back it up, it appears just to be total political gibberish peddled by bigots and morons for bigots and morons (yes Pact, that’s you).

    • Anonymous says:

      When you live it every day you don’t need statistics. You are clearly an expat

    • Anonymous says:

      You want data? Provide a way for people to give evidence without their lives being destroyed, and with real meaningful consequences for abusers. The data is everywhere. Our corrupt enforcers refuse to see it, even when it is handed to them on paper, in triplicate!

  24. Anonymous says:

    There are current Acts in place to address this, so how about doing something novel for the CIG and simply enforce the current laws.

    CIG know how to make laws, they just don’t know how to enforce them, which is kinda the point in drafting the laws in the first place.

    Meanwhile Cost of Living is through the roof, cost of doing business is through the roof and Employers’ that follow the Laws are being punished with uncertainty of recruiting new staff or holding on to existing staff

  25. Anonymous says:

    As a very long time resident who has gotten Status I can tell you that it has been easiest to get a work permit in the last 5 years then it has ever been. Work permit holders have no issue switching jobs, companies or even career, we never would have been so bold 10 – 20 years ago.

    • Anonymous says:

      100% in the 90’s it was brutal getting a WP and no hope in hell of changing jobs

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes i remember being uncertain for my first 10 years whether my peem2it would he renewed….but the quality of life here was worth the uncertainty…now the guests have become the entitled mostly thanks to Aldart the Terrible

    • Anonymous says:

      Yup. Thanks Eric, and your wonderful #worldclass ministerial team. We could never have done it without you. Franzies all round.

  26. Anonymous says:

    Reading this and Waynes comments a few days ago there is clearly a disconnect between the premier and deputy premier. What’s really going on here ? Can they have a meeting before releasing conflicting comments to the public ? Sheesh man your offices are right next to each other, discuss it over coffee before going public

    • Anonymous says:

      You are missing the point – they can’t or won’t agree, and no one is in charge as there is no party strict to provide discipline and the Premier cannot afford to alienate any of his cabinet if he wants to remain the Premier.

  27. Anonymous says:

    Thank you Mr. Barton, and perhaps he can also get answers from within WORC as to why WORC themselves made several Caymanian jobs redundant over Christmas 2021, citing “budget constraints”.

    • Anonymous says:

      Hopefully they were in the civil service cuz that place needs to be stripped of the majority of do nothingers.

    • Anonymous says:

      Budget limitations for a department already unable to fully perform their responsibilities shows PACT’s lack of concern for caymanian opportunity.

  28. Anonymous says:

    What ppl forget is it would be impossible for a Caymanian to work in the US or Canada or Europe so why should it be considered a given that they can here. Solution is to tax work permit holders earning over minimum wage a flat 20% split between employee an employer. It would be more in US, Canada and Europe. An equitable solution am much needed revenue for government

    • Todd Parrothead says:

      And ensure a mass exodus of work permit holders in finance and law and eventually an exodus of those companies. Be careful what you wish for.

      • Anonymous says:

        I call your bluff! 20% would be a lot less tax than working back home. It would stop the work permit corruption and the companies would hire Caymanians because they would not want to pay the 10% tax on the exuberant ex-pat salaries.

      • Anonymous says:

        Yeah yeah we’ve heaed this threat before….you are and would be easily replaced.

        • Anonymous says:

          You would make Bermuda and a number of other jurisdictions incredibly happy with this move.

          Also do you think the CIG could actually implement an income tax, without it costing an arm and a leg?

    • PeterSmith says:

      What does taxes have to do with employment of Caymanians? The work permit fee is already a type of tax.

    • Anonymous says:

      Lol. Why do you imagine it would be “impossible” to work in uk/eu/us? I’ve worked in all 3. You must not have much in the way of any skills anyone wants.

  29. Anonymous says:

    Thats is not a “leaked” letter. That was written and “leaked” at the direction of Chris Saunders. We are not idiots Chris. Not all of us anyway.

  30. Anonymous says:

    “Some businesses” will always be poorly run and of course there will be those that try not to hire Caymanians. That doesn’t justify punishing ALL businesses by refusing permits even where no Caymanians have applied. No business should be expected to lower the hiring bar for Caymanians as long as the required qualifications are realistic and justified.

    • Anonymous says:

      Your last line says it all. “As long as the required qualifications are realistic and justified.”

      Asking for five years of experience and a bachelor’s degree for an entry-level job is not realistic or justified.

  31. Truth says:

    The only way this can work is if or when these workers that can not land and keep a job start to do their part and show employers that they are employable and will work as hard, as long, as skillfully, and as socially acceptable as a skilled and experience expat. With no change in schooling and parenting that will not change for many Caymanians. In the meantime the very industries that bring in the tax dollars to pay for civil service paychecks($1,5000,000 a day) are stalled because they can’t hire skilled and experience staff to make their business work. What is happening now will be felt soon and long into the future. Cayman Islands reputation as a difficult place to run a business will not help it get back on their feet.

    • D. Truth says:

      Quote: “With no change in schooling and parenting, that will not change for many Caymanians.” I have said that for years, and as far as I can see, there has been no change! Why not? Because our leaders haven’t done squat. Why haven’t they made changes to have young Caymanians able to step up and make the Cayman Islands productive?

  32. Anonymous says:

    There should be ZERO work permits allowed for realtors!!! None. People are coming here as bartenders and all of a sudden are realtors. That should be an EASY field to restrict to Caymanians as very few barriers to entry and no lengthy degree-program is required.

    • Anonymous says:

      or hairdressers, waiters and nannies!

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes, but you also have to deal with no fixed salary and a commission based income.

      • Anonymous says:

        yep your right caymanians will have to work for their commissions, and that won’t do.

      • Anonymous says:

        Have you seen the real estate market recently? Do you think the ex-pats in the industry are worried about commission-based salaries? A one-bedroom is going for $400k roughly. The commission at 5% would be CI$20,000.00. There are some Caymanians in the industry that had to forge their own path as the ex-pats continue to try to exclude them.

      • Anonymous says:

        Which is a crime and an offense under the Labor Law. But we do not enforce anything because our regulators are inept or corrupt, or inept and corrupt.

    • Anonymous says:

      Just like politicians – you don’t need any qualifications at all, convicted drug dealers and women beaters welcome, and even a complete moron can get elected. If cretinism was a political party, it would be called PACT.

  33. Anonymous says:

    This deserves a Comedy Night episode.

    Basic, elementary school arithmetic (numbers are hypothetical):

    Working age population: 25,000

    Working age population already employed: 20,000

    Available jobs: 15,000
    =

    The problem I have is that we’ve come to a time in our history where people can come out of the top schools with top grades and top honors and not seem to know much. They would not demand legislative reform if they were good at basis arithmetics. Some common senses won’t hurt either.

  34. Anonymous says:

    Someone is lying.

    Private sector says that they cant hire enough people.

    Public sector says that there are too many locals looking for jobs.

    Which one is it?

    • Anonymous says:

      The private sector with the help of a bunch of corrupt assholes in the public sector.

    • Anonymous says:

      In fact, it might well be neither.

      When Cayman drank the Jim Bodden Kool-Aid it decided, for better or for worse, to join the international business community, and in doing so of necessity exposed its labour market to comparison with those in place elsewhere: in order to remain competitive, it was necessary to show a comparable level of experience and qualification with other jurisdictions, otherwise business would go elsewhere.

      However, the standard of public academic and vocational education in Cayman has not necessarily kept pace with that in major jurisdictions overseas, with the result that there can be a disconnect between the requirements of many businesses and the qualifications of those applying for jobs locally. Accordingly, you are left with an oversupply of willing applicants and an undersupply of applicants at a level sufficient to maintain the business at a competitive standard of service.

      When compared with another population centre of comparable size (say 20-25,000 local nationals of of working age) in, say, the US or UK, the proportion of Caymanians (a) employed at all and (b) employed in senior or professional roles almost certainly substantially exceeds the average. That might suggest that there isn’t a major pool of untapped talent which is somehow being ignored, and although it is not to say that the numbers cannot improve further: , the current Gov analysis of “there are x jobs, and there are y unemployed Caymanians, therefore there should be jobs for all those Caymanians is too crude.

      It’s not so much that anyone is lying, more that (wilfully or otherwise) the rhetoric fails to look at what is being demanded and what is being supplied in the labour market, at least in relation to financial services.

  35. Anonymous says:

    If you have a terrible education, you will have a hard time getting a job in any country. Help Cayman get educated. It will fix most of these problems. Businesses are not schools. No on wants to train someone the basics of working in a job. Get that sorted atleast. Give cayman a fighting chance.

    • Based Caymanian Pepe says:

      I mean, apprenticeships are a thing for a reason. Training someone from the ground up is the best thing for the business a lot of the time as they don’t import the wrong way of working. Problem is, that would require employers to give a crap about the Island they reside and not be so greedy.

    • Anonymous says:

      Businesses are schools. The Immigration Transition Act requires it for every skilled position in return for the work permit. The failure to train is in fact an offense. Get over yourself. Every business in the world has apprenticeships, except Cayman.

    • Anonymous says:

      So an entry-level position requires no training? BS!

    • Anonymous says:

      The smartest comment on here.

  36. Anonymous says:

    When will the next round of Permanent Residents with unpaid fees be released? What happened to the ones from the first round that hadn’t paid theirs? Were they revoked? Are they still on island? At the very least they should be be put on a list that they cannot apply again for permanent residency..

  37. Anonymous says:

    For the first time in decades, people are finally speaking up. The whole business staffing plan program was nothing but another way for businesses to have a loophole to get work permits approved.

    The PACT Government, unlike the PPM who kept it covered up as a means to balance the budget using permit fees, will have no choice now to come up with legislation to fix this mess.

    Maybe it’s time to double the fees if businesses are using the business staffing plan..Make it uncomfortable so they have no choice but to put one in place and set up some type of rewards system of lowering fees for the mopre Caymanians they hire and retain for at least 5 years.

    • Anonymous says:

      ….”covered up”? I have been reading about this for at least a decade…poor us 😢, nobody wants us 😞, let force them to take us 💪🏽 🔨, they owe us 😡, punish them for not taking us ⚖️⛓

      Please define the word EMPLOYEE!

      • Anonymous says:

        CIG would you listen to this POS that you have allowed to stay in OUR country for “at least a decade”. What the hell man??

      • Anonymous says:

        Why? It is irrelevant. Gainful Occupation is the relevant term, and that is clearly defined in the Act.

  38. Anonymous says:

    Caymanians don’t show up for interviews and even if hired they don’t show up for work. Entitlement is a swear word to them yet they all feel entitled.
    No one wants Caymanian to work for them. Sorry.

    • Anonymous says:

      Nothing like a sweeping statement to spread lies and mis-information. For your own education I have first hand experience that completely contradicts your statement. I attended every interview and after several months secured employment and have an exemplary attendance record. I was offered jobs as low as $1500 a month with experience and education to degree level. This is a practice that is done to deter Caymanians from accepting and to ‘tick the box’ when it comes to applying to renew a permit. I am not alone in this.

      • Anonymous says:

        At one point in time, maybe 10 years ago. The favourite phrase ex-pat employers told Caymanians with degrees, was that they’re over qualified and need experience.

    • Anonymous says:

      Whoa ignorant much. You can replace ‘Caymanian’ with any other country in the world, the same applies. Bad apples and entitlement exist everywhere, please remember that.

  39. Anonymous says:

    The recruitment processes that are in place within many of the medium to large businesses are specifically designed to discriminate against Caymanians. Unless the government is willing to implement close oversight of these businesses nothing will change for the better and there is no point talking about this matter any more.

    When you have work permits renewals being submitted with what is clearly fake job holder requirements and those work permits are not challenged there is a problem. When you have work permit applications that are initially challenged only to be ultimately approved because of connections that is a problem.

    I don’t know if the people that have traditionally been looking at these things are just lazy, stupid or corrupt.

  40. Anonymous says:

    The two areas mentioned, construction and hospitality are both areas any Caymanian can walk into. We all know that, but they are not the jobs they want. Extended work out in the heat, or serving people on long hours. There are Caymanian owned businesses that employ a lot of people and they will tell you they don’t want Caymanians. Because those that they do give jobs to don’t work hard and pick and choose when they work. That is from one of the most high profile CAYMANIAN companies on the Island. When they talk of getting the balance right, this is exactly what they mean. This is not a generalization, its a straight forward observation. Kaibo was heaving last weekend, but not enough staff. Because the work permits were deferred. Not seeing the line of locals trying to get work there. Someone has to sort this out. Its a mess.

  41. Anonymous says:

    Im a qualified Caymanian with 4 years experience. Took 6 months and over 50 relevant applications before finding a job.

    Start cracking down on the immigrant owned and run employment agencies.

    • Anonymous says:

      In my experience, I have found that if you put “Caymanian Status Holder” instead of “Caymanian” on your job application you receive more responses from job applications. There are some very qualified and hard-working Caymanians out there, unfortunately employers to have to sift through the trash to find them.

  42. MB says:

    This has been going on for at least the past 35 years and I have been talking about it for at least the past 35 years. The problem we have is the fact that past governments have turned a blind eye to the abuse taking place. Let me provide some examples…

    1. The government tells an employer that they are aware that a qualified Caymanian has applied for a particular job for which they are seeking a work permit renewal. After significant pressure from the government the employer agrees that the Caymanian who applied for the position is qualified and has the requisite experience and that they only need the work permit holder for another year as a transition period. The government agrees. Immediately after the work permit is renewed the employer provides an employment letter for the work permit holder to take to the bank as part of an application for a 20 year mortgage.

    2. The senior manager of a company is from country X. The senior manager over the years insists that he can’t find any Caymanians for various positions and needs to recruit from overseas. The recruitment efforts always seem to end up with the best possible foreign worker being found in country X despite the fact that publicly available data would suggest that the people with the best available and relevant skills are from countries Y, Z (and many more countries before country X). At every work permit renewal the senior manager insists that the business will fail if the work permits for the people from country X are not renewed. Eventually the workers from country X get Cayman Status and immediately leave the company. All of a sudden it’s no problem and the company will be fine… if the senior manager can just get some more workers from country X.

    3. In an effort to continue to get work permit renewals a company puts forward a business staffing plan that indicates that a manager that is on a work permit is being understudied by a Cayman and that the Caymanian will be ready to take on the job in two years. The Caymanian however has never been told anything about this and is not actually understudying anybody. This continues and continues because the government simply doesn’t care.

    4. A qualified Caymanian is hired by a company to take over a position held by a work permit holder. The company didn’t want to hire the Caymanian but they are qualified so the company feels like they don’t have a choice. Many of the now Caymanian managers were once work permit holders themselves and they come up with a plan to make the life of the newly employed Caymanian hell in an attempt to get them to leave the company so they they can’t replace the work permit holder. They eventually succeeded and the Caymanian leaves without a fuss in an attempt to protect they reputation and their family.

    The problem we have now is the fact that the rot is in the system itself and many of the individuals abusing the system are now Caymanians who were able to obtain their Cayman Status because of similar abuse, corruption and nepotism.

  43. Anonymous says:

    Mr. Barton, we need more men and women with your attitude whereby, people and country comes first. Our islands don’t even belong to Caymanians anymore. Sad our governments past and present place self first.

  44. Anonymous says:

    I wonder what’s the Chamber of Commerce pushback on this (obvious) revelation of blatant discrimination and entrenched entitlement– plus the cheap reverse psychology and guilt trips piled on top.
    Simply,
    IF WE CAN’T WORK, YOU CAN’T WORK!
    This longstanding crisis needs to be sorted before the new Minimum Wage is set, otherwise only Permit holders will still benefit from the increase!

  45. Anonymous says:

    Christ you all make this so hard. Just increase the minimum wage to the cost of living.

    • Anonymous says:

      And that will help qualified local professionals advance in their careers and overcome the lies spouted by their employers how, exactly?

  46. Anonymous says:

    Where are all of these unemployed Caymanians? If you exclude the unemployable, there can only be a handful

  47. Anonymous says:

    The end result will simply be positions being made redundant and work permit revenue lost. It’s already happening. No Caymanian will benefit from this convenient “leak”.

    • Anonymous says:

      They are collecting the tourism stipend; why work?

    • Anonymous says:

      Yeah yeah….we’ve heard this threat for decades….you arent that important and will likely be replaced by someone who can manage compliant with laws of our country….dont go away mad..just go away

  48. #CAYMANKIND says:

    Financial services firms and big businesses have always tried to take advantage of the immigration process and friends in the system including chairpersons, CIO’s, certain Chief Officers and politicians who must repay donors. The entire immigration system is based on corruption and favors. Always has always will be.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yup. All those CIMA and Grand Court regulated entities committing fraud on the government and people of the Cayman Islands as part of their standard operating procedure. Openly. Repeatedly. Without consequence. What are you going to say now, Attorney General?

      #Leggewasright

      • Anonymous says:

        Attorney General – at what point does a regulator refusing to regulate become guilty of maladministration? Just askin, cos there seems to be a lot of people collecting a lot of dollars for a lot of years to do nothing?

    • Anonymous says:

      Certain Chief Officers? Who would that possibly be referring to, Franz? Any comment?

      Quick. More awards!

    • Anonymous says:

      I think the biggest change that will come out of this is the transfer of jobs to overseas offices in places like India where they’ll save on payroll and work permit fees and reduce the number of staff locally.

      • Todd Parrothead says:

        Yep. Real estate and businesses will suffer when the WP holders are gone.

      • Anonymous says:

        Well thank you for your selfserving bs…business is already farming out but people want to live here and business need substance more than ever for their operations…so i predict they will either hire a manager who can operate within the laws of the jurisdiction OR move business and lose customers to cayman competitor. Buh bye

    • Anonymous says:

      Does the Honorable Chief Justice understand that some of his gallant and noble Officers of the Court, on whom no aspersion can be cast, and whose shit don’t stink, have been active participants in these lies and frauds?

    • Anonymous says:

      Big overseas law firm brought in overseas employees to become partners over Capable Caymanians without due immigration process….all ignored by immigration.

      • Anonymous says:

        Which is actually a criminal offense committed by them and by civil servants who actively and knowingly permitted the crimes. If there is ever an investigation and a safe way to give evidence, the facts will shock anyone who believes Cayman operates with the rule of law.

      • Anonymous says:

        Big bucks!

      • Anonymous says:

        Hush. A government lawyer (right off the plane) said they could. She was wrong. What they did was illegal. They knew what they were doing was illegal. They did it anyway. Criminal conduct with no accountability.

  49. Anonymous says:

    Let’s build a more equitable economy that Caymanians actually want to work for and in.
    Democtratise the development planning process for the island in line with sustainable practices. Decent jobs in sustainable eco-tourism and let Caymanians enjoy a friggin spliff once in a while.

    • Anonymous says:

      So you request jobs and the right to get legally stoned! You just hinted at why some employers don’t want to hire you.

      • Ok Boomer says:

        I dont request.
        We demand a better and more equitable future for our people.

      • Anonymous says:

        But they bring in a foreign worker that’s a functioning alcoholic and that’s ok? I’ve seen it many times over. Showing up to work hungover and the boss covers for them.

      • Anonymous says:

        What’s wrong with enjoying a spliff after work off the clock? Alcohol is the number one most consumed thing on this island so…..

  50. Anonymous says:

    Mr Barton- Name and shame these employers who do not want to employ Caymanians- so we Caymanians can stop purchasing/supporting these entities

    Please name and shame them.

    • Anonymous says:

      You know this is all politics on the behalf of the government.

      • Anonymous says:

        Except for the fact that the issue is real, as is the overt corruption that enables it.

      • Todd Parrothead says:

        Using the tried and true “us against them” method for politucal gains.

        When will the “build that wall” chants begin?

    • Anonymous says:

      Not enough. Why have they not been prosecuted? There are committing and have been committing crimes. We all have seen it. We all know it. Our civil servants have repeatedly refused to do anything about it for more than a decade. The victims are many, including trust in the government and systems. I thank God Mr. Barton has the integrity to refuse to leave the mess under the rug. People should be in prison for what they have done. Some of them prominent!

      • Anonymous says:

        In Bahamas, when your work permit expires and you try to renew it they ask you “which Bahamian did you train for your job?”
        Oh you didn’t train a Bahamian? Well you need to go then.
        I’m an expat and I see good and bad to this. Yes there are locals that don’t fit or don’t want to work, but I do see locals (like my spouse) who is educated and went on interviews to be told by HR managers that they already have a permit holder and the interview is a formality.

        Report them you say? So you can be black listed on this little Rock? So long as government is addicted to permit fees it will never change. They need to diversify their revenue streams.

    • Anonymous says:

      No, 7:37, he won’t do that because he does not have the “clear abuse” evidence that he wants us all to imagine exists. But I agree with you and challenge him to name names AND provide hard evidence of his assertions, otherwise we can assume he is just currying favor with someone or some group for some purpose.

    • Anonymous says:

      He can’t as he has no actual evidence.

    • Anonymous says:

      Doubt residents are shopping at the law and accounting firms which are the ones he is most likely referring to. Also don’t think most people let alone “locals” want to stomach the workload expected by these firms.

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