BSP board cracks down on bosses’ obligations
(CNS): The Business Staffing Plan (BSP) Board has adopted a zero-tolerance stance on non-compliance and will not approve work permit applications from employers that fail to meet their obligations.
A government press release stated that employers must adhere to the conditions of their plan, as it is a mandatory requirement, and they must submit their annual updates on the measures they are taking to employ local people.
Under the business staffing plan rules, which apply to larger employers, the companies concerned must detail the status and conditions of their scholarship, internship and apprenticeship programmes as well as succession planning and advertising for vacancies.
BSP Board Chair Jaron Leslie said the board was committed to the “objectives of the Business Staffing Plan framework, which promotes fair recruitment practices, authentic training and succession planning efforts, and increased employment opportunities for Caymanians. Employers who do not meet these commitments will face enforcement action.”
Labour Minister Michael Myles, who, alongside his coalition colleagues, has committed to prioritising local people in the job market, said his ministry fully supports the board’s zero-tolerance approach to non-compliance. “These standards are essential to holding employers accountable and ensuring they meet required obligations. Our priority is to protect opportunities for Caymanians and to promote transparency and fairness throughout the recruitment process.”
WORC and the board are urging employers to act immediately to ensure that all documentation and progress reports are up to date and submitted within the required deadlines. Under the Immigration Regulations, employers must provide detailed records when a Caymanian applies for a position.
This includes supplying WORC with the names of all applicants, their qualifications, work experience and backgrounds, the reasons for selection and rejection decisions, the refusal letters and interview reports for each unsuccessful Caymanian applicant, as well as the job descriptions and resumes of non-Caymanian applicants.
Failure to provide timely and accurate updates on these elements will result in the non-approval of related applications.
All updates must be submitted to the BSP Secretariat by email at WORC-BSPSecretariat@gov.ky
Submitting incomplete, false or misleading information constitutes an offence under the law and carries a penalty of CI$5,000 upon conviction.
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Category: Business, Government Administration, Jobs, Local News, Policy, Politics
The Job Market vs Jobs Created
As the strongly American influenced World Bank publishes its findings of 1.2b young people entering the Job Market and only 400m Jobs being created leaves a slew of young people 50% to 60% projected to be un-employed
https://live.worldbank.org/en/event/2025/spring-meetings-jobs-the-path-to-prosperity
Which means that as the world continue to embraces technology and most jobs offered now a days are Skilled Work from Home Jobs, we have to find ways to create 250 to 300 Un-Skilled Jobs a year like creating an unskilled Government Garment or Uniform Clothing Manufacture Department to make Uniforms, Backpacts, Legal Note Portfolios with the Cayman Islads Coat of Arms and Computer Bags for our School Kids and Government Employees like they did in India to manufacture uniforms for the Military
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2024/11/12/benin-a-win-win-partnership-for-the-inclusion-of-young-people-with-little-or-no-education
Apparel Manufacturing has Potential to Create 1.2 Million New Jobs, says World Bank Report
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2016/04/28/apparel-manufacturing-has-potential-to-create-1point2-million-new-jobs-world-bank-report
Affordable Homes in George Town
While i am very please with Minister Jay Ebanks efforts and attention to look at the Storm Water Drainage Flooding problems at Randyke Gardens and in the South Sound area that causes very high annual Insurance Premiums, along with the Government Guaranteed Home Assisted Mortgage scheme to aid our people with obtaining a home and home ownership.
https://caymanindependent.com/minister-plans-law-changes-to-curb-flood-risk-from-new-builds/
I would like to humbly piont out the absence of the fundamental reasons WHY and WHAT the National Development Housing Trust was established.
Firstly, the National Development Housing Trust was established and was suppose to issue Mortgage Loans at half the Interest Rate and half the Monthly Repayment rates that the retail banks offer; ultimately making home ownership more affordable and atainable for Middle and Lower Income earners
That decision was made due to the difficulties highlighted, broadly discussed and found that lots of our local people were over extended by paying high monthly payments on mortgaged Rental complexes, 2 or 3 Credit Cards, Vacation, Consumer or Car Loans etc……. and could no longer afford to absord the high interest rates and high monthly loan repayments.
Hence was the reason for the establishment and introduction of a National Development Housing Trust 7% Fixed Mortgage Loan Interest Rate with a Low Monthly Repayment
Secondly, the National Development Housing Trust was suppose to construct and build housing communities and re-sell the homes in those communities at the cost of building them, with an Affordable Day Care Child Center and a Children After School Program with community Outreach Programs
These programs were suppose to be established with Retail Bank Loans loaned to the Cayman Islands Government at 5% and Home Mortgages issued by the NDHT to customers at 7%
Therefore, while the Cayman Islands Government almost suceeded in accomplishing those task that almost provided more affordable home ownership options, the dream of affordable home ownership is not completely lost and out of the reach for the average Caymanian.
Nevertheless, with the drying up of retail bank loans to fund government capital projects, other options are still available like issuing or floating a NDHT, CIDB or a CI Government Treasury Bond at 5% and lending mortgage loans at 8% to cover the cost of the bond issuance and the operational cost to build and fund mortgages for affordable homes
The other areas of concern for the high un-attainable Cost of Living in the Cayman Islands that comes along with Home Ownership is Home, Life and Auto Insurance; and our government has done a trimedously great job of breaking down these barriers by being financially prudent and allowing CINICO to begin offering Affordable Home and Auto Insurance
Don’t kill the goose that laid the golden egg and throw the baby out with the bath water by excluding the NDHT from issuing Fixed Interest Rate Mortgages.
One of the most important decisions that our goverment have come to realize in recent times are the importance of collaboration on different government agencies and departments working together
Perhaps, now that we have two bankers in Parliment that understand banking and issuing Mortgage Loans, it might be worth while for our NDHT to raise funds via a Bond to build Affordable Homes, work with Public Works Department to build the homes, work with the CI Development Bank to manage the Bonds and the Mortgages and work with CINICO to offer Home Insurance Policies
Hope it also applies to the Brac
Law firms are the main culprits. Time to dust off their BSP and check for compliance.
And DEMAND the Chief Justice also perform her supposed role as regulator of the profession – not that anyone would be practicing Cayman Law anywhere, without a practising certificate, right?.
Who is actually posting these dumb comments about the ‘illegal practice of Cayman law’?!
You can’t regulate what people do overseas. The US doesn’t purport to regulate who practices US Federal law; the UK doesn’t purport to regulate who practices English law.
What’s the actual issue you’re trying to address? Are you seriously suggesting that Hong Kong – where all the major firms have offices – should close their offices, and demand that their clients get up in at 3am in HK if they are to speak to their Cayman lawyers?
Or are you proposing that Cayman law firms should operate night shifts: have a 24/7/365 thing, so that HK clients can pick up the phone during HK daytime, but 3am in Cayman, and that’s how we will provide services.
Are you special needs?
Why don’t you advertise yourself as a Solicitor of the Superior Courts of England and Wales, without being one, and see what happens to you?
And why don’t you read our Legal Practitioner’s Act before commenting?
If you advertise yourself as any UK, US or Canadian professional, OUTSIDE of those countries, nothing will happen. This is because those countries aren’t special needs.
What’s your point?
Not true. You will be closed down with extreme vigor. That is why every English Solicitor in Cayman has to include the words (non practising) after reference to those qualifications.
“closed down with extreme vigor”
No. You’re lying (or stupid. Possibly both). People can call themselves:
“Supreme Architect of English Legal Rectitude and Eminent ENGLISH SOLICITOR of the Most August and Illustrious Superior Courts of Her Britannic Majesty’s Realm of England and Wales, Defender of Due Process and Vanquisher of Administrative Injustice”
…And if they are outside of the UK, the SRA doesn’t care. Under section 21 of the (English) Solicitors Act 1974, it is a criminal offence in England and Wales for a person to wilfully pretend to be a solicitor if they are not on the roll of solicitors. This offence is not by its terms expressly limited to conduct within the jurisdiction, but its enforcement is limited to England and Wales, as UK criminal law does not have extraterritorial reach unless expressly stated.
Section 21(1), Solicitors Act 1974: “Any unqualified person who wilfully pretends to be or takes or uses any name, title, addition or description implying that he is qualified to act as a solicitor shall be guilty of an offence…”
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/47/section/21
The SRA does not purport to regulate the use of the title by unqualified individuals abroad (i.e., people not on the roll, pretending to be a solicitor outside the UK), as it has no enforcement power in foreign jurisdictions. Unless the conduct has a sufficient nexus to England and Wales (e.g., advising UK clients, misleading UK consumers, or being based in England and Wales), the SRA cannot prosecute or discipline abroad.
I am beginning to strongly suspect that you are not in fact Caymanian. You are a Canadian, Aussi or Kiwi expat who simply a troll. You are pretending to be extraordinary, irredeemably lobotomised for the sake of making Caymanians look inbred and unemployable. May I politely suggest that you please STOP IT, and grow up. It is very clear that no one is actually as dumb as you are pretending to be, and the joke isn’t funny any more. You should show more respect for the Caymanians, and not pretend to be one.
Pls fix. Thx.
You don’t appear to know the case of Martin Polaine, a UK barrister called in 1988, served as legal adviser to Operation Tempura’s investigators in the Cayman Islands. In December 2009, the UK Bar Standards Board’s Disciplinary Tribunal officially disbarred Polaine from practice in England & Wales.
Not for the reasons you are implying.
You’re lying.
1. There are no findings against Polaine: https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/for-the-public/search-a-barristers-record/past-disciplinary-findings.html?q=Martin%20Polaine
2. That’s because they were overturned: https://www.caymancompass.com/2014/01/17/tempura-redux-martin-polaine-has-his-day/
3. Most importantly however, Polaine wasn’t accused by the BSB of improperly practicing English law. Rather, incompetent morons in CIG (has there ever been any other sort, ever, in the decades I’ve been here?) instructed him, then stabbed him in the back by later saying that he was WORKING IN CAYMAN but had not been called TO THE CAYMAN BAR, and that this was a problem (it wasn’t, CIG knuckle-draggers messed up – again):
https://archive.caymannewsservice.com/2014/01/15/tempura-lawyer-reinstated/
See the contemporaneous comment here: https://archive.caymannewsservice.com/2014/01/15/tempura-lawyer-reinstated/#comment-273007
“If I am reading this correctly, the Cayman Islands Government perhaps facilitated this lawyer (who they hired) to be disbarred largely as a result of the CIG not providing the facts (that he did not need to be called to the Bar in Cayman if he was working for CIG) to the judge that ruled on the case. If this is correct, I can smell another law suit.”
In summary, everything you said was wrong.
‘Who is actually posting these dumb comments..’
You!
You understand that making money from the unlawful practice of Cayman Law constitutes the proceeds of crime? Quite a serious offence last time I looked.
Agree time to dust off the BSP.
One major law firm in GT has a Caymanian associate who has worked with the same firm for more than 22 years…surely the BSP must have covered the progression training plan for that associate.
Ah! Is this how you think the world works?
You simply declare, “I AM A CAYMANIAN – BOW BEFORE ME!”
And then, regardless of how crap you are, you will be given ever greater responsibility and money?
I have a bridge to sell you…
Do you understand the concept of a “personal ceiling”?
Example: “JuJu’s personal ceiling should be working in McDonalds, but the atrocious political system allowed her to destroy Caymanian kids’ future by racking up debt”?
Law firms promote people because they are worth promoting. The test is: “Is it better for us to promote this person, or let them leave the firm?”
If people haven’t left a particular firm, that’s because it’s the best they can do. If they were good enough to be promoted, they would be promoted in their current firm, move to another firm, or start their own firm. That they haven’t done so speaks volumes.
Will this include Dart companies? No I didn’t think so. They been ignoring the rules for years.
I dunno, 5 minutes on their website tells a far different tale.
Seems more like others should be following their lead.
“Under the business staffing plan rules, which apply to larger employers, the companies concerned must detail the status and conditions of their scholarship, internship and apprenticeship programmes as well as succession planning and advertising for vacancies.”
https://www.dart.ky/about/dart-scholar/
https://www.dart.ky/about/dart-hospitality/
https://www.dart.ky/careers/job-opportunities/
The inconvenient truth about the Dart company strikes down a Dart hater once again!
Bravo!
Love or hate Dart, you have to admit they employ some truly horrific humans in upper management.
Hater’s gonna hate but they shouldn’t hate the playa’, they should hate the game.
Da game can’t be played without the playas.
There is as much chance of the BSP enforcing these regulations as there is of Dwayne Seymour getting arrested for DUI.
It’s what happens when one government department doesn’t do its job. Instead of shutting it down, they add another, equally useless one above below or alongside it to do much the same job to the same effect.
Witness the department and ministry of education, both designed to do what a competent school administration ought to do.
Which is why government spends as much per child as a private school fee and the problems persist. Whose fault is it? With that many layers, who the hell knows.
Most things should be outsourced whenever possible. It’s not ideal but it’s the least bad option. At least it will be stopped at some point if it’s not working.
I hope someone in Cayman pays attention. Few are paying attention. Lawmakers don’t get it or don’t believe it. CEOs are afraid to talk about it. Many workers won’t realize the risks posed by the possible job apocalypse — until after it hits.
“AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs — and spike unemployment to 10-20% in the next one to five years”
“ AI companies and government need to stop “sugar-coating” what’s coming: the possible mass elimination of jobs across technology, finance, law, consulting and other white-collar professions, especially entry-level gigs”
No need for AI to do it, WORC is already doing it. Finally something the government can do more quickly and efficiently than the private sector.
private sector strikes again and blames CIG. If a few Private Sector companies would get its act together our unemployment issues would disappear overnight.
look at what the private sector is doing to our 60 year old Caymanians kicking them out after 40 years of slave wages with no heath care and them complaining that CIG is spending too much money on healthcare.
Curse the private sector for its focus on efficiency and standards. We should do away with it. That worked pretty well for Cuba.
2:39:
Your comment betrays the fact that you are ignorant of the underlying socioeconomic underpinnings that led up to the revolution.
The socioeconomic conditions that led to the Cuban Revolution bear noteworthy similarities to the emerging discontent among segments of the Cayman Islands’ local population, particularly regarding inequality, foreign economic dominance, and employment disparity.
Allowing the unfairness and disparities to continue worked pretty well for Cuba, didn’t it?
If all of these unemployed Caymanians are so suitable for the work force, then the Civil Service should hire them. Stop trying to force private businesses to employ the unemployable. While some of them are definitely qualified and are hard workers I’m sure, the majority are not and aren’t working because they are lazy, uneducated or unreliable and the more government ignores this and caters to them, the worse it will get.
Perhaps they could staff the National Lottery Department with them.
2:55. Yes the Civil Service should employ them to keep you safe. let’s see how long you remain in Cayman.
This doesn’t make sense. Are you one of the unemployables?
Your comment betrays the fact that you are ignorant of a significant part of the thrust of this initiative.
One reason many Caymanians are “unemployable” is that they lack the training and experience for hiring or advancement. Part of the Staffing Plan mandate provides for the employer to set forth the training and internship opportunities that are being offered by the employer who is applying for a work permit.
All the expat’s that think Cayman will crumble if they leave or threaten to leave please make your exit any time now
All the qualified Caymanian brain surgeons please raise their hands
How many immigrant brain surgeons do you think we have employed on the island at any given time?
It’s a concept called an “example”. Presumably the point being conveyed is that there are no Caymanian brain surgeons with the necessary:
1. Qualifications.
2. Overseas experience.
3. Aptitude.
4. Attitude.
Again, I’m speaking for the person who made that post, but presumably their point is that there all of the Caymanians who have (1)-(4) in different professions are snapped up by employers, and can be assured of lifetime employment to keep WORC happy and to avoid employers paying work permit fees.
There are then tens of thousands more jobs which still need filling. For example, if there are:
300 jobs for doctors
But:
Only 50 Caymanian doctors
Then we need 250 expat doctors.
It really shouldn’t be this hard to explain. What am I missing?
All of them
We do have an abnormal amount of rocket scientists.
Rocket surgeons
The key feature of BSPs is that companies offer training opportunities for Caymanians. How many are honoring that? How often do you read that a company is seeking trainees or apprentices? Not often enough. Having trainees means mentoring. It is part of building our country, not just paying minimum wage.
It’s also frequently unrealistic.
Shamelessly stealing what someone else said here, but employers need people with the right:
1. Qualifications.
2. Overseas experience.
3. Aptitude.
4. Attitude.
Employers can’t train ANY of those. It’s nonsense.
Having this provision in the law is unfair to Caymanians, whose expectations are unrealistically raised. It’s like MLAs legislating to mandate that Caymanians can fly:
“Upon attainment of the eighteenth anniversary of birth, every individual possessing Caymanian status ipso jure shall, without further act, deed, or ministerial intervention, be deemed to have acquired, vested and perfected in their corporeal person a pair of functional, flight-capable appendages (“wings”), and shall thenceforth be empowered, authorised and entitled to ambulatorily depart from the earth’s surface by means of self-propelled aerial locomotion, notwithstanding any common law, statutory, physical, biological or metaphysical impediment to the contrary.”
You can legislate to make Caymanians fly, but that still doesn’t make it realistic.
3:48:
Your statement “Employers can’t train ANY of those” is nonsense. It is inconsistent and flawed on several grounds–both logically and practically–especially when considered in the context of large, multinational law, financial services, accounting, or other professional firms that actively invest in training and internship programs.
Large multi-national firms in these sectors (such as PwC, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, etc) on a global basis routinely invest large sums of money annually in training and developing staff precisely in the areas your silly statement claims cannot be trained.
Globally, in many instances large professional firms sponsor employees to obtain further professional qualifications such as the CPA, CFA, ACCA, or legal certifications. Global evidence of the HR policies of many multinational firms clearly indicates that qualifications are often gained through employer-supported training.
Many such firms offer global rotation programs, secondments, and international placements as part of their programs. This directly contradicts the idea that overseas experience cannot be cultivated or supported.
While natural aptitude may vary among persons, firms assess and develop cognitive, analytical, and leadership aptitudes through training modules, mentoring, simulations, and real-world projects. Aptitude is not set in stone and is a major focus of a comprehensive training programme.
A foundational concept in professional development and HR management is that attitude can be molded and improved. Through organizational culture, mentoring, values alignment, and performance management, firms can shape behavior, ethics, and professional demeanor. Leadership training often focuses directly upon such development.
The blanket statement that “employers can’t train ANY of those” reflects an ignorance of both training and talent development. Training is not limited to technical skills. It includes soft skills, personal development, cross-cultural awareness, leadership readiness, and much more.
The idea that “you can’t train for attitude or aptitude” is a silly assumption–and a false one, as demonstrated by decades of research in behavioral science, human resources management, and corporate development.
By claiming that none of those qualities can be trained, the statement implies that training programs and internships are pointless, which contradicts why large firms offer:
–Structured internship programs to assess, train, and convert interns to full-time hires.
–Onboarding and continuing professional development to align employees with firm standards and practices.
Your statement is both logically and empirically flawed. Large, multinational firms do train for qualifications, overseas exposure, aptitude, and attitude. Saying these cannot be trained is not only false; it contradicts established corporate practices and undermines the value of professional development programs.
The mandate we face is to ensure that all such firms operating in the Cayman Islands are offering training and advancement opportunities to Caymanians who demonstrate the requisite desire, motivation, and “train-ability”.
You closing statement is no less absurd than your leading statement: Most humans are trainable; thus, legislation that facilitates such training can enhance opportunities for some humans. No humans can grow wings or fly on their own; thus, legislation purporting to empower humans to fly is as silly as your flawed logic.
About time. I love it.
I have hired Caymanians in the past. Because of what we do, we get the guys who have no education center on the island. They come to us with no formal training whatsoever. I feel for them, they have no chance at success because their government never gave them the opportunity to train in the field. Last 3 guys stole from me, one expat did to, so I’m not saying it’s caymanians. But we tried students also. They sit on their cellphones and do nothing. I do train as much as I can, but I can’t get the incompetence out of some people, expat or caymanian, those people cannot work for me. I just want what’s best for the company so the company can employ more people, that gives more opportunities to everyone. But I cannot employ people that do not work for their money regardless of where they are from. Your nationality means nothing to the bottom line. If I go out of business we all fail. We need a proper training facility in Cayman. That does trades and blue collar jobs. Led by a team of focused people that are doing what’s best for the island.
You want the truth? Ask Deputy Premier Peanut how many Caymanians he hired at Burger King and Popeyes. IF he tells the truth and says hardly any, then ask him why. He will tell that they did not want to work at a fast food restaurant. Same reason they don’t want to be bartenders, waiters, laborers on job sites etc. It’s hard work and looked down on. Our cultural views are stopping most of the unemployed Caymanians working and we need to stop pretending otherwise!
They would rather be a bank teller making $2,000 a month than a bartender making $5,000 a month because a shirt and tie make you look smart, but being a bartender makes you part of the “help”. It’s shameful.
Ridiculous and out of touch with reality. Many people would much rather be a bartender interacting with people and having a good time, but can’t afford a loan/mortgage on $4.50/hr when banks refuse to consider grants as part of earnings. You are making people out to be villains when all they are trying to do is play the game in the way that the system is set up.
Not everything is black and white.
Double or treble the minimum wage to CI$18.
Corrupt Caymanian politicians (the only type: there are no expat politicians) have chosen to leave the minimum wage at poverty levels so they can profit from their side businesses and get kickbacks from developers.
This is destroying Caymanians’ ability to build wealth, but – more crucially – get started on the job ladder.
LOL. Nothing will happen. Cayman doesn’t do enforcement.
As with most issues here in Cayman, the problem is always none-compliance with rules, combined with a lack of enforcement. People will do what they can get away with. You see it on the roads, in the schools, on the gossip websites. This is no different. Zero tolerance shouldn’t even be a thing, just enforce the rules you have and there’s no need for saying such nonsense.
Start by enforcing removal of illegal bill boards by PPM. Elections are over. The planning rules are applixable even for bill boards with the so called “public service announcements”. How can thanking folks for electing you be in the public interest?
PPM as a party should take them down. Joey are you still the party leader?
He never really was.
So essentially this government is saying they will enforce the law and regulations, how novel.
Well saying you will enforce them is not novel. Every government does it. But actually doing it, that would be a change.
Michael Myles and this government are going to absolutely murder small businesses because of entitlement culture.
Businesses do not choose to pay thousands of dollars every year and go through the absolute NIGHTMARE of dealing with WORC etc to get permits approved because they want to. They do it our of necessity.
A few bad apples spoils the bunch!
BULSHIT!
It is certain businesses that have an entitlement culture, and employers FREQUENTLY go through the permit process because they want to, not because they have to.
I am a Caymanian (fully qualified) and have personally applied for a job – where the employer sought and obtained a work permit without disclosing the fact of my application, let alone the interview notes or the reasons for my non selection. The conduct was criminal. the consequences (for the company) non-existent.
Caymanians ARE entitled (like everyone else) to have our laws upheld and applied fairly and evenly – and if businesses have been abusing the privileges afforded by our systems to them, let them bear the harshest of consequences. There are plenty of excellent businesses complying with the rules who can take up the slack if the unscrupulous are removed from participation.
Which sector?
Law, but it happens frequently, in every sector.
I don’t know any unemployed Caymanian attorneys. On the contrary, the large law firms are desperate to recruit Caymanians and bend over backwards to try to keep them.
Also, if what the person above is saying is true, it would be extremely simple to report the law firm. This just doesn’t sound believable.
Further, how would a failed application know what the law firm submitted to WORC? For example, if the law firm interviewed the following:
1. Caymanian A.
2. Caymanian B.
3. Caymanian C.
4. Expat D.
5. Expat E.
…and then recruits Caymanian C, the how would Caymanians A and B ever hear about that? Large firms hire people all the time. The same applies if the firm hires Expat D or Expat E: Caymanians 1-3 May get individual feedback, but what they won’t get is the private personal information about the other candidates, Caymanians and expats alike.
It rather sounds like there are a tiny % of unemployable Caymanians who genuinely believe that they have a god-given right to get any job they deign to apply for. That sounds rather, what’s the word? …oh yes… Entitled.
It is happening in financial services. I am aware of a service provider who currently has a work permit advertisement on WORC for a senior leadership position when there are qualified, dedicated and hardworking Caymanians in that same office with over 2 decades of experience who can easily take up the position, but have been sidelined time and time again.
Dealing with WORC may be a nightmare, but the slave wages employers advertise there are deplorable.
Who sets the minimum wage?
CAYMANIANS
Who whinges that the minimum wage is too low?
CAYMANIANS
Whose children grow up without any work experience, and who later lack employment skills?
CAYMANIANS
Who needs to dramatically increase the minimum wage?
CAYMANIANS
…
..
.
There seems to be a patten above. I can’t quite put my finger on it…
Since only those with 15 work permit holders are required to have Business Staffing Plans, we aren’t really talking about small businesses here.
Well done Michael. In the right direction! Keep this up, we the people will want more than 1 term.
With these kind of idiotic decisions, he won’t make it to the end of his first term. Businesses will be destroyed because of this foolishness. 90 percent of Caymanians that are unemployed are either unemployable, uneducated or don’t want to work. You can’t force businesses to hire these people to the detriment of their companies.
There simply aren’t enough qualified Caymanians to fill all of the positions.
All this nationalism sure feels warm and fuzzy, though.
There probably aren’t even enough unqualified Caymanians to fill all these positions. There aren’t enough Caymanians in relation to the size of the economy.
But employers shouldn’t just pay lip-service to the law and especially the spirit of the law. Caymanians need to be given the chance, but the CIG/WORC/Community need to realize that businesses aren’t charities.
Not sure there are enough WORC employees to follow up on every WP application – or even a material proportion- and check whether the employer has actually disclosed whether any Caymanians applied, let alone all the other stuff about their qualifications, interview etc. 37000 WPs, people. Business as usual unless there is some serious change in enforcement. .
Do you know why WORC is so terrible? Because it is run by under trained Caymanians with maximum job security in the civil service. Oh the irony. Cayman has one of the highest Per Capita rates of people employed by government and still 99 percent of departments have the worst Customer Service on island. It’s embarrassing. They literally create departments out of think air to hire Caymanians rather than address the huge elephant in the room regarding the lack of education for our youth.
Do these rules apply to SAGC’s ?
Some of these work permit holders are doing a lot more and in other areas that has nothing to do with what they were hired to and what the work permit allows. They will never complain because they want to keep their boss happy while they are being taken advantage of although they too have ulterior motives which to become indispensable and allow their boss to engage in their own personal pursuits. They become the ‘look out guy’ whilst the boss out on his own pursuits. Always on the lookout for the boss man. That why they won’t hire Caymanians , they would report him in a flash!!
CNS: The next time you include “I trust you will post this!” or “I don’t think you will post this!” or something similar (especially “I dare you to post this!”, which is the most annoying), the comment will be deleted, regardless of content, as I normally do.
Oh for F-Sake! This sh-t will happen anywhere.
No system is free of recalcitrant.
And I’ll tell you this… If the TWP is done away with, the Service Industry will be in shambles very soon. Ironically, CIG can’t afford to lose the revenue made from TWP’s.
Enforce it, though. Do not make it just talk. It should be full compliance, if not, a hefty fine; and if they still fail to comply, a two-year moratorium on their work permit applications. When given the opportunity, though, Caymanians *must* step up and deliver.
This board means business! Well done to the Chairman and members for their diligence. Make an example of those large law firms and others
Especially the law firms, who replace with their own work permit holder ‘skivvy’.
What is this meant to mean?
LMAO – You guys ae so gullible, just keep listening to the sound bites and then the excuses in 4 years.
Why are you whinging about law firms? We employ hundreds of Caymanian staff – FAR, FAR more than we need, just to keep WORC happy.
The support staff footprint here is massive compared to e.g. Australia where there are very few support staff.
What exactly are you demanding?
You are a WP holder, support staff in a law firm and Australian.
‘We employ hundreds of Caymanian staff – FAR, FAR more than we need, just to keep WORC happy.’
Really, then your WP holders can leave then.
The royal ‘we’ does not impress.
Caymanian parents have resisted very strongly the notion that “my child” could become a plumber, electrician, car mechanic etc.
These jobs, it was always argued, are for foreigners to do while “our Caymanian children” should not be denied the chance to take over the jobs held by expats in the law firms, banks, accounting firms, civil service etc, even when they do not have the academic aptitude to attain such positions.
Parents are quite right about such opportunities needing to be provided, of course, but you will find it very difficult to get support from them for diverting children away from the academic curriculum and into “trade and technical” schools. Everyone wants to be a partner in a major law firm and retire in their forties or fifties with a huge pension pot. Sorry, it’s simply not realistic.
You nailed it about unrealistic parental expectations! Even when I was at CIHS, in the late 80s/early 90s, it was the same!
People told their children they could be lawyers/accountants/doctors/etc just because we’re Caymanian. Some of those kids didn’t even put effort into high school never mind seek further education. Those students are now parents with unrealistic expectations.
Those of us with the academic skill set for those professional jobs plus the ambition to learn/work hard have been able to build successful careers in our fields. Those that should have gone into vocational jobs but thought it was beneath them, still struggling with menial jobs. Plumbers, electricians, welders, mechanics plus so many other jobs that are well-paying, much-needed and good honest work are filled by expats because people chose to deter their kids from those fields.
I have heard people say “it’s unfair” that a lawyer/accountant/doctor/whatever makes so much money but yet they have to take a measly few dollars an hour. Meanwhile, those professionals have invested 2 years in 6th form plus lots of money and at least 4 years in college, and then worked outside Cayman for several years to gain international experience (which clients demand for us to be taken seriously in Cayman), all while the minimum wage worker did no further education.
Does any other country in the world have so many ministries, departments, boards, agencies, commissions etc.? Mind boggling.
Follow the incentives: they are contrived job creation scheme for the unemployable. This gets votes.
Someone has just posted on another story a link to a 2011 review of the financial and human resource management system operated by CIG, by Keith Luck, Former Director General (Finance), of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He confirmed that CIG had too many agencies, created unnecessary cost and complexity, and needed to eliminate entities and centralise HR and finance processes. Civil Servants lacked IT and finance skills, and no one was clearly accountable for financial management.
Nothing has changed. In 2023, Wayne Panton admitted that CIG was doing “social hiring” for the otherwise unemployable: https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/09/premier-says-civil-service-must-stop-growing.
Civil servants have again recently reiterated locals lack the necessary skills: https://caymannewsservice.com/2025/05/caymanian-civil-servants-urgent-call-to-rethink-policy)