CS ‘union’ looking for new leaders to fight for fairness
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Civil Service Association (CICSA), the nearest thing the country has to a workers union, is asking interested members to put themselves forward for several leadership vacancies ahead of its rescheduled Annual General Meeting next month. The association is looking to elect a new
vice president, treasurer and director. CICSA President Clara Smith urged members to come out and have their say on the agenda for the year ahead, including pay and benefits, health and safety, and workplace conditions.
CICSA provides representation in human resource matters to some 1,600 present and past employees of the core civil service, statutory authorities and government companies.
“The last few years have been extremely challenging for the public service in the Cayman Islands,” Smith said in a release about the meeting and the need for new leaders to help fight fairness across the public sector.
“While we have been able to make some strides in that time, we are strongest when we are united in pursuit of our common objective of ensuring fair treatment of public sector workers. As such, we encourage members to come to the AGM to provide us with feedback on the current state of affairs and on our direction for 2024,” she added.
The meeting is set for Friday, 2 February, and interested candidates can nominate themselves by emailing clara@cicsa.org.ky or by submitting their names from the floor on the day.
The meeting will take place from 1:00pm-3:00pm in Room 1038 in the Government Administration Building. Refreshments will be available.
For more information email carlee@cicsa.org.ky or visit cicsa.org.ky.
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Category: Local News
Why is it that over the past many many years the head of the Civil Service Association has been someone who was not, shall we say, a very competent civil servant? Just as Parliament attracts too many mediocre non performers in the job markets, both private and public, so also does CICSA attract malcontents and mediocre performers. Why?
You are guaranteed a pay raise every election cycle, what more do you want?
Free healthcare and non contributory pensions would be great, since you asked!
And no performance accountability either plus job security plus no skin in the game.
We are run by a bureaucracy for the bureaucracy.
Given internal conflicts they could be best served with a professional appointee (someone outside the civil service). Most private sector Unions operate that way.
Gosh! A bunch of negative people! If you are dissatisfied then the right thing would be to put your names forward and be the change that you want.
Ah yes, let the civil servants sign up to a worker’s union that gives zero anonymity so that they can all be black balled. Good idea
That’s right folks! Step right up to put your name forward to be the lightning rod for this regime’s vengeance and retribution! Oh, but I insist, after you, Sir/Madam…
Cayman Civil Departments are bloated with unnecessary and often unproductive people. Their attitudes are not appreciated by the general public, not even their own. Trim the service and you will intern trim the permits. Let them go into the private sector where you have to work and excel to survive.
It has long been the policy of savvy members of the private sector to let the CS employ the dross so they don’t have to.
When I a member needed help vs a department I was told it was a conflict of interest to help me.
Really.
For years CICSA has had a controversial and self centered Council, rewarded by Government for not tackling the real issues, ie from salaries and benefits to no succession plans and nepotism.
How can they even freely and openly discuss issues at Meetings with the DepGovernor or Ms McField in the front row intimidating members?
Now they want the regular members to bail them out.
Nopes. 3rd World Class.
Totally agree. They did the same with me. And told me plainly that they had been threatened not to help me. a waste of space
There is nothing world class about Cayman’s civil circus
Hold on a minute now! It’s a world class circus, that much is for sure.
civil service….an anchor around caymans neck….
don’t believe me?…just read any report into the workings of the the civil service
majority are only there for health & pension benefits:
1) make basic health care available to all, people pay for private or can continue with private cover
2) merge the bookkeeping and HR administrative functions, most are just clerical workers, executive level at best
3)centralise actual hiring for civil service and only hire if persons already have qualifications
4)stop hiring the status holders who can work in private sector, especially since they have now obtained their ‘paper qualifications at our expense’ and change terms of their contracts to give options to retire/resign
5) if person is contracted worker make them pay school fees equivalent to fees at private schools
To be fair, the majority are only there because they wouldn’t be employed in the real world.
Truth.
Hashtag
Extremely challenging? You make up over 50% of the annual CIG budget and if you add in future pension/health obligations it is way over 100% of all revenues. What else do you want?
“What else do you want?” How about decent pay, decent working conditions & managers that care. Being a big chunk of the budget doesn’t mean civil servants have it all. Who feels it knows it but the public will continue to think civil servants have way more than they deserve and that’s not the case at all.
always the manager’s fault. comical. get off your behind and do a full day’s work for your pay!!
Civil servants have very good pay across the board for each pay grade. You get 12% full employer pension contributions and pay ZERO dollars for your health insurance. You get pay raises and bonuses across the board regardless of merit. You don’t ever have to worry about layoffs. Even some of the most egregiously poor performers are never fired. Every report from the Auditor General or Ombudsman’s office is scathing in almost every department’s abject and inexcusable failure.
If you’re so great at whatever you do, and you’re so deserving of better pay, better working conditions, better managers etc., then I suggest you go out onto the open job market and get what you “deserve” in the private sector.
However since I’m sure you’re satisfied with a bloated contract and zero accountability whatsoever you’ll stay exactly where you are and continue to help CIG slow the rest of the country down day by day.
There are no pay raises that’s for sure
Extremely challenging indeed! I almost lost my mind reading that. Not one of them lost their jobs or wages during covid. They get increases and bonuses that are not commensurate with their value add. The good ones deserve it but sooooo many of them don’t even deserve a job.
Waste of time just like the annual civil service engagement survey.
Just like the Civil Service.
One has to wonder how many entitled expats are here criticizing a national government’s civil service of a country that they are not natural born citizens of.
Not a country.
6.42am And conveniently forgetting the mess of a Civil Service they left behind in their home country.
24 @ 6.42am No need for expats to chime-in criticize the Civil Service, I can do that alone…their share too!
Is the civil service here in the room with us now?
Shoe us where they hurt you.
Put a foot wrong there it seems.
#civilserviceeducationatitsbest