WORC bosses to face PAC grilling
(CNS): The Public Accounts Committee will hold a public hearing from today, Thursday, to 20 June regarding the Office of the Auditor General’s latest performance report, Improving Employment Prospects for Caymanians, May 2024, in which the OAG made ten recommendations, primarily to WORC. Ministry of Labour Chief Officer Wesley Howell, WORC Director Jeremy Scott and Ministry of Education Acting Chief Officer Lyneth Monteith will appear as witnesses.
The report raised concern about how more than CI$144 million had been spent over a five-year period. It also found that some of the main barriers to getting locals into work were low standards of education, the failure of the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation and childcare problems. The OAG also noted a significant gap in the data to indicate which, if any, of the various initiatives have helped to get local people into jobs or set on a career path.
The public can watch the proceedings live at the House of Parliament in George Town. Anyone wishing to attend must wear “proper attire” and sign in with security to gain entry. The proceedings will also be aired on the Cayman Islands Government’s YouTube channel, on CIGTV, and on Breeze 105.3FM.
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Category: Government oversight, Politics
95% of unemployed Caymanians are so for 3 reasons:
1. Lack of education.
2. Laziness and unwillingness to work.
3. Feeling entitles to senior positions and pay without working for it.
Nailed it 11:52.
I think not. It is this BS that people like you, at the HR Level, sprew out about the majority of out of work Caymanians that causes the ready, willing and quite able Out of Work Caymanians to get an acknowledgement of their application much less an interview.
Stop acting like your absence from Csyman will cause it to crumble. Remember any foreign worker is here in Cayman by privilege NOT by right. So remember you too can be replaced by the next 5 or 10 foreign persons waiting to take that same job you think that a Caymanian would not, could not or even given a chance to do.
Be careful how you treat the citizens of the country that has so graciously changed your life, obviously, for the better.
Everyone downvoting this likely falls into one or all of these truths.
Close. It 98.7% actually.
I no longer adhere to this rubbish you are sprewing out. The large majority of out of work Caymanians are ready, willing and quite able to work but it is this BS that you all continue to sprew out, at the HR Level, that prevents many from even getting an acknowledgement of their application much less an interview.
What absolute BS and you’re obviously an expat. Caymanians are simply not given the same opportunities as expats and that’s a fact and it’s not because expats are always more qualified or more hard working. It has everything to do with who you know. Expats network more and are also much better at it than Caymanians and it pays dividends for them. I know quite a number of expats that hold jobs they are simply not qualified for because of networking and the old boys club.
To address your entitlement comment, also BS. Expats have a more entitled attitude than Caymanians and in my opinion if Caymanians feel entitled, this is their home so where else can they feel entitled? What’s ridiculous is people coming from another country to Cayman and feeling more entitled to jobs and a better way of life than Caymanians.
i wonder what “low standards of education” has done to stop the hire all the college graduates from Jamaica, Honduras and Philipines. Its simply the fact employers do not want to hire locals and see Cayman as a open door to bring in friends and family. Keep making excuses for them. The majority of Caymans workforce are uneducated, the difference i will say in their defense is they are extremely willing to work and learn and follow instructions. Attitude will take you places education could never.
There are a lot of Caymanians who show up to work every day, just to warm the seat. They are consumed with IG, FB, TikTok, eyelashes, nails and the list goes on. They feel that positions, salary upgrades must be given to them, yet they barely have a high school education, much less a college education. They do not understand the meaning of earning something, because of the sense of entitlement. So my comments all go to the lack of proper education. Education equals advancement.
Your comment is not unique to Caymanians because I equally witness expats sitting on their phones scrolling through social media, talking to their friends and family overseas, online shopping, chit chatting with each other, and basically doing everything but working so stop with the narrative that only Caymanians do this.
There is one way to solve this for all of you non Caymanians. Go home!! You then won’t have to witness it
I am sure they will “weather the storm”.
This is all optics for masons by masons to convince the gullible.
There has never been significant change for good from any politicians since Cromwell instituted “Government by deception” whereby people were offered the illusion of choice.
How naive. Did we think Lucifer the liar would give up control to decent, honest people?
Come on good people, wake up! It won’t get any better until we start speaking up and demanding transparency.
If they beat their wives, speak up.
If they sell drugs, speak up.
If they profit illegally from government contracts, speak up.
If they use government resources dishonestly, speak up.
How about a party called, “Coalition for Truth”?
I guarantee none of the current crop who have recently enriched themselves will qualify to join.
Sorry for the long rant, but something needs to give.
I’m glad some agency is finally looking into government activity, or lack thereof!
As they move to remove civil service add-ons hired from all around the place, and limit their PR/status options, I hope they also address the terrible situation of all the Jamaican and Philippino/ Indian etc workers who are managing our national security in the main buildings, ports, schools etc.
This is gross Nepotism, and if these companies paid a Liveable wage, so that those government contracted staff would not have to constantly depend on double shifts (eg. Dump Site and schools at night) and days off after two weeks only, THEN perhaps they could be replaced with hundreds of strong, honest LOCAL young and mature men..and women who are seeking honest employment!!
Are we on the same island?
“replaced with hundreds of strong, honest LOCAL young and mature men..and women who are seeking honest employment!!”
It is a damning indictment on Elected and Civil Service leaders when an expat as the Auditor General has to complain and question why not much is being done to help Caymanians getting jobs!!
Except expats have been saying this forever. Our kids come out of public schools barely knowing anything other than patois. Which is fine if you want a job in Jamaica.
A new 50M (100M+) school in the Brac is going to solve everything; including unemployment; right JuJu?
I wonder if anyone at the hearing will ask Julianna about the “low standards of education” that is the primary barrier to getting locals into work?
A primary barrier.
A general failure and even refusal to enforce our laws, any of them, is another.
That will change once she gets the new school built
oh yes, and after this intense grilling….we’ll go back to the normal scheduled programming.
The money is not being spent on checking these large job sites for all the “sub-contractor” workers. All they have to do is walk around the corner to the new hotel, across the street to Cricket Square or when they make a food run to Kirk Market go into the two big jobs right there. They would find all kinds of violations by the buy a work permit people who have work permits for anything from housekeeper to car service people. The excuse is, just get a letter saying where they are working and they are covered by the Caymanian who fronts for them to get a work a permit. Will they be asking the Honorable Seymour any questions since he is the minister in charge?
Leave these workers alone as they provide income to us Caymanians who get them the work permits.
I don’t think WORC are aware of a platform called LinkedIn either; where 3/4’s of the Financial Services industry advertise (in breach of local law).
Without these dedicated workers, nothing would get done in Cayman.
The PAC meetings can just stop. Disband the committee. These meetings do not bring about actual, progressive change.
It’s just a little something to do.
No hard questions are asked ever since they removed Ezzard. Love him or hate him, he was one of the few willing to ask the right questions, and not settle for BS answers.
The UDP and PPM loved Ezzard, because he did absolutely the opposite, never blowing his whistle for years, underwriting some of the sketchiest money-transfers and corrupt enrichment schemes going…and they are still going. We should be glad Mr Hawaiian shirt is gone. It would be fair to say, nobody has executed this oversight responsibility properly as there is no enforcement mechanism. Julianna has gone even further to reduce transparency and consequences. The Cabinet are essentially self-indemnified from criminal prosecution. It’s all kabuki.
WORC is a complete waste of money, and this was $144m wasted on a problem that can’t be fixed this way. Private employers do not want to spend money on work permits and deal with completely inadequate government departments to get these processed, but it is a necessity. 95% of unemployed Caymanians are so for 3 reasons:
1. Lack of education.
2. Laziness and unwillingness to work.
3. Feeling entitles to senior positions and pay without working for it.
If you look at the state of most government departments and all the way up to the elected members who are mostly Caymanian, the proof is in the pudding. Inadequacy, scandal, lack of foresight and planning and overall ignorance is rampant. There are many Caymanians who studied hard or worked their way up on the private sector and hold top positions which were earned. This is not an expat vs local agenda that many past and current politicians use to cover their failures. The problem lies in todays generation of parents and youth and their lack of accountability, a problem that money and job portals cannot solve. To close, yes I am a Caymanian, just one who speaks the truth and doesn’t play or agree with playing the entitlement card.
Well said
If you’re going to criticize Caymanians about, amongst other things, “Lack of education”, don’t you think you should use proper spelling and grammar: You say, “Feeling entitles to senior positions…”, but should it not be “Feeling entitled…”? Asking for a friend. Carry on.
It’s obviously a keystroke error, grammar nazi.
the elephant in the room is this “entitlement” that they deserve the job but don’t come to work or are not qualified finish high school but does not graduate, so here I am! now give me a job. And when a child is struggling in year 3 & 4 it is against the law to hold them back from the next level. Really? if you don’t understand year 3 how can you do year 4 and then if you don’t understand year 4 how do you go to year 5 is it true you cannot hold a child back in grade 3 if they don’t understand it, you MUST send them to year 4??? if that’s a law that needs to change, maybe it’s the teachers, maybe it’s the parents, and the child is set up for failure in the workplace. there is no shame in not understanding year 3 if you went to year 3, but it is a shame if the school system passes you to year 4, and you didn’t understand year 3. Really? let’s fix this first and see how things go.
Give the children a fighting chance. They can’t spell, read, fill out a job application, but we must give them a job, and when interviewed it goes” how many sick days do I get, how many vacation days do I get, not what does the job entail.
I’m speaking from an employer point of view. They want the job but don’t want to come to work and are not qualified for what I am needing. Need to teach business, and bring back vocational schools not everyone is going to be a Lawyer, Doctor, business owner, CEO. or go on to college.
The Department of Education needs to hire more capable Special Education Needs specialists for the Primary schools. Hundreds of Caymanian children in need of SEN service are NOT getting it even when it is mandated in a (if you can get it, hard fought for) specialized Education Plan for that specific child. Seeing what happens in that system, it is almost as if there is a subtle but concerted effort to NOT provide these services by those who should ensure they are provided. These are kids with learning challenges, dyslexia, hearing impaired, ADHD, autistic spectrum, behavioral issues, etc, etc. Many of these children would have a fighting chance to succeed and be prepared for all sorts of positions in society if only they could get the support needed at the primary and then high school stage. As they get older, it is harder for them to accept the intervention needed as they become angry, withdrawn, and either isolated or drawn into gangs or the “bad crowd”.
100% agree! To add to your points, I would say that the Dept of Education needs a complete overhaul! For years they’ve been failing our children! It’s a vicious cycle that will never end- students “graduate” without proper knowledge of basic writing and math skills, end up jobless and apply to NAU. It’s a hot mess! Aside from not holding kids back when they absolutely need to be, the special needs students not having proper support… it all adds up to the mess we are in! Start at Dept of Education and see if things change once those useless crooks get tossed to the curb!
Just a friendly reminder that Roy at the head of the PAC is laughable, considering he literally admitted he had no idea how many tens of millions they gave away in concessions to ultra-wealthy developers.
…and his regime willingly conspired to seek to hide the multi-billion dollar pension and healthcare liabilities, to deceive the FCO into believing there is FFR compliance. This should be a police matter.
This Government is the worst ever in the history of the Cayman Islands,PPM, UPD not far behind! God help us the Caymanian people.
Grilling? Going by the CAL hearing it will be more like a soapbox for WORC to complain about why things are so hard for them and they need more money.