Archive for May, 2011
Domestics cited as stumbling block to minimum wage
(CNS): The minister for labour has pointed to the country’s 600 or more domestic workers as the main stumbling block to Cayman having a minimum wage. Rolstin Anglin said Wednesday that he still has no plans to introduce a set basic pay but a group would be examining the possibility. There were a number of considerations with the issue, he said, that were not easy to address. The minister indicated that he didn’t want to go to the county’s parliament and have to exempt one of the biggest categories of workers from the get-go. The largest group of employers wasn’t business, he added, but regular people who employ domestics, most of whom earn less than $5 per hour, which has been suggested as a possible starting point.
At a Chamber of Commerce “Be Informed” presentation by Anglin’s ministry staff about planned changes in the areas of labour, training and pensions, the issue of the minimum wage was raised by Jim O’Neill, the president of the Chamber.
Anglin said that a motion for minimum wage was before the Legislative Assembly suggesting $5 (brought by Ezzard Miller, MLA North Side) but he said his ministry was not ready to mandate a basic rate of pay. Describing himself as a fiscal conservative on a number of occasions, Anglin has said he is not opposed to the principle but has proved reluctant to move forward on the issue which many people believe would help to address work-place exploitation.
Although no official commission or committee has been established, he said the ministry would be forming a group to explore the question and look at what is happening in the local economy and the labour market. The results of that, he said, would influence any further moves towards establishing the minimum wage.
“It’s quite easy to aspire to a minimum wage,” Anglin told the audience, adding that he didn’t think that many people disagreed with the idea that there should be a minimum amount of money that every person should make. “But it has to take into consideration the economy, the workforce and your current economic climate,” he said.
With more than 600 people employed by individual employers as nannies, gardeners, domestic helpers and caregivers, he said most of them do not earn $5 and that government would have to figure out what to do with this category of workers before it could consider the move. He also said there were problems for waiting staff in restaurants and bars and the questioned whether employee tips should be part of a basic wage rate.
Anglin said he believed it was a complex issue and not one that could be so easily sorted with the introduction of a low flat arbitrary rate that has been suggested.
Ezzard Miller, the LA’s only independent member, has tried to introduce a basic wage on several occasions via amendments to various legislation being steered through the House but has failed to gain any traction with government. During the next parliamentary meeting Miller has again filed a private members motion with the hope of at least opening the debate properly on the floor of the LA and encouraging support from the community, despite government reluctance.
Travers awards spoof gong to tax haven critic
(CNS): In a press release circulated on behalf of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, the chairman, Anthony Travers, has revealed his intention to give $1000 to a local charity chosen by the author and member of the Tax Justice Network, Nicholas Shaxson, in a spoof book award. In an undisguised sarcastic swipe at the man who wrote Treasure Islands, Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World, Travers has given the book the Cayman Stock Exchange’s inaugural Book of the Year award. Describing it as a “sublimely entertaining” account of bad guys, tax wrongdoers and hidden treasure, Travers said Shaxson was a worthy winner of the “FairyTale” category.
Although Travers is no longer chair of Cayman Finance, during his time in that role he declared his intention to respond to all critics of the Cayman Islands that he believed misrepresented the jurisdiction and the offshore financial services sector.
In Treasure Islands, Shaxson, who is a Chatham House associate fellow, points a finger at tax havens as being at the source of the world’s economic problems and the untold story of globalization. He says that tax havens are not just about tax but escape from criminal laws, creditors, prudent financial regulation and democratic scrutiny and accountability as well as tax.
In the book Shaxson describes tax havens as “the silent battering rams of financial deregulation” that have forced other countries to remove financial regulations, to cut taxes and restraints on the wealthy, and to shift all the risks, costs and taxes onto the backs of the rest of us. “In the process democracy unravels and the offshore system pushes ever further onshore. The world’s two most important tax havens today are United States and Britain,” he states.
As well as criticizing onshore tax havens, Shaxson takes aim at Cayman and other offshore financial centres.
A vocal critic of Shaxson and the organisation, Tax Justice Network, of which the writer is a member, Travers is taking a different approach in his latest public criticism with the spoof award. However, he appears to be genuine about handing out the cash as he says a $1000 award will be paid to the Cayman Island charity of Shaxson’s choice.
“We are pleased to make this award to a worthy winner. This is a work of intricate speculation where the author has managed to layer mischaracterization on misrepresentation on half truth and omission to create a fabulous tale of exuberant derring-do without feeling the slightest obligation to resort to the research or evidence presented by the IMF the OECD, IOSCO the FATF or indeed the US General Accountability Office,” the stock exchange chair said about the book.
“It was a brave literary vision not to do so given the overwhelming weight of hard and established fact to the contrary and his decision not to address the conventional and established wisdom but to ignore it in its entirety in creating his tale of legend, allegory and fantasy makes Mr Shaxson our clear favourite for this year’s award in the fiction category.”
In the release, Travers added that the book had even caused some US Senators to believe that this fairy tale world exists and that there is a “veritable pot of gold sitting waiting for the swashbuckling US legislator at the end of the rainbow” described by Shaxson in the Cayman Islands, which confirmed Shaxson as “meritorious winner” of this spoof award.
“We look forward to hearing from Mr Shaxson with his designated charity,” added Travers “It’s a rattling good light read, hugely entertaining and, my goodness, very, very, humorous.”
CNS has contacted Shaxson to ask if he will be taking Travers at his word and ensure that a worthy cause benefits from the rivalry between the two men.
‘Defective work’ delays school
(CNS): The education minister has said that of all the problems plaguing the development of the new high schools the issue of the poor standard of work by the former general contractor has been the main cause of the delay in completing the Clifton Hunter campus. Rolston Anglin said that it was not design changes or government budget considerations that slowed down the project but the need to repair the defective work by Tom Jones International (TJI) which has cost both time and money. The minister said the extent of the defective work had been so significant that putting it right may well exceed his project manager’s recent estimate of over $2 million.
Despite issuing non-conforming notices to the contractor, Anglin said TJI did not repair the defective work but he said the cost would eventually be charged back against the former contractor. In the meantime government has had to pay for roofing work, windows, exterior door frames and exterior wall finish work, which were all impacted by what he said was “defective concrete work.”
The minister said the shoddy work had a far greater impact on slowing things down than any of the changes that his ministry had decided to make to the original plans or any other considerations.
“Getting the building watertight is critical to the interior finish work and progress on almost every window and door opening was impacted,” he explained. “The project was delayed because of the general contractor's breaches and the resulting need for a construction manager, and this meant that funding decisions had to be phased.”
Anglin said the government would not have had to phase the high schooldevelopment projects had it been for the former general contractor's poor standard of work. “The delay and the additional costs have been incurred solely as a result of the general contractor's actions,” Anglin told CNS this week.
Of all the problems related to the projects, he added, “the general contractor’s actions have thus proved to be the most problematic, not least because they are at the root of a number of subsequent challenges, including repairing the deficient work, as well as getting a construction manager on board and procuring the services for the trade scopes of work.”
The problems are most acute, Anglin said, at the Clifton Hunter Campus in Frank Sound as work there was more advanced than at the new John Gray High School site, but the minister added that there was deficient work at that campus too and similar repair work had to be undertaken.
The former contractor walked off the government job in November 2009 over a dispute regarding payment. Since then TJI has been involved in a courtroom dispute with the ministry of education. Following a hearing in which government failed to have the claims by TJI dismissed the case is expected to go to a full trial.
Following the latest comments by both the minister and David Bennoit, the project manager now employed by the education department to oversee the phased development of the schools, Tom Jones International has denied the allegations of defective work. Although the minister said that the contractor was issued with notices, TJI claimed through its spokesperson, David Legge, that it had not been informed by the ministry of any deficiencies in the work.
‘Killa’ to take on new foe at Camana Bay
(CNS): Local boxing hero, Jr middleweight Charles ‘Killa’ Whittaker (36-12-2, 23 KOs) will be fighting David Toribio (19-12, 12 KOs) next month on home turf, here on Grand Cayman, after the unbeaten Jermell Charlo pulled out of the planned bout with Whittaker on Wednesday morning. The fight is slated for 11 June at the Art & Recreational Centre at Camana Bay. The local favourite will take on Toribio for the WBC USBC belt. Also scheduled is welterweight Damian Frias (16-4-1, 7 KOs) vs Alex Perez.
New kids need health checks, says school nurse
(CNS): All students entering government or private schools for the first time in Cayman, are required to have health screenings, the school nurse said Wednesday. “This must be done before the new school year begins in September,” said Health Coordinator Joanna Rose –Wright reminded parents seeking to send children to school this September. The screening comprises assessment of growth and development, screening for vision and hearing; dental assessment; reviewing and administering necessary immunisations, and obtaining medical and surgical history and is offered free by public health to all students.
Officials said that for students entering schools in West Bay and the Eastern districts, health screenings will be done at the district health centres from 1 – 30 June and for all other students, health screenings will take place at John Gray and George Hicks Medical Centre from 6 July to 31 August 2011. Appointments can be made at the school the child will be attending.
Nurse Rose-Wright reminds parents and guardians that they need to accompany their children to the health screening and should bring the child’s immunization record.
“Vaccines will be offered to children whose immunisations are not up-to-date. A health screening certificate will then be issued which is to be taken to the child’s school,” she explained.
Parents may have their child’s health screenings done by a private doctor, as long as they ensure that he or she completes the school health screening forms provided by the Public Health Department.
The completed forms should be handed in at the John Gray’s Medical Centre between 6 July and 31 August, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Records completed by a private physician before or after these dates, can be dropped off at the Cayman Islands Hospital’s Public Health Clinic.
Once the record has been received, a health screening certificate will be issued which then must be taken to the school that the child is entering.
In Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, appointments for school entry screening can be made by contacting Public Health Nurse Nelsie Jones at Faith Hospital on 948-2243.
Detailed information sheets for parents and guardians are available at the schools. For more information, please contact Nurse Rose-Wright at 244-2734 or 244-2648, or John Gray’s Medical Centre at 949-2501.
Academics to mull future of overseas territories
(CNS):The Cayman Islands’ status as a dependent territory will be the subject of high-level academic discussion next month according to the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA). At an annual conference in Curacao a panel of Caribbean academics will explore the challenges faced by Caribbean territories. Under the title "Unfinished Decolonization: Proposals and Uncertainties in the Non-Independent Territories of the Caribbean," panelists will present scholarly papers on the range of political status options available to the small island non self-governing territories, and will examine how present self-governing arrangements of independence, free association and integration actually operate in practice.
Specific attention will be paid to the present political dependency status of the six British dependent territories of the Caribbean/Atlantic region, in particular Bermuda, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands Montserrat, British Virgin Islands and Anguilla.
The conference will convene from 30 June to 3 July at the World Trade Center in Curacao, the former capital of the Netherlands Antilles before its dismantling in 2010 to become the third autonomous Caribbean country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with Aruba and Sint Maarten.
The panel will be chaired by professor of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Dr. Aaron Gamiel Ramos, who will also present a paper on “The Limits of Representation: Regional Cooperation Efforts of Non-Independent Territories.” Ramos has published widely on non-independent Caribbean issues, and co-edited with UPR Professor Dr. Angel Israel Rivera the seminal text, "Islands at the Crossroads: Politics in the Non-Independent Caribbean."
The role of the United Nations in the decolonisation process of Caribbean and Pacific island territories will be examined in a second paper, "An Assessment of the Implementation of the International Decolonisation Mandate", to be presented by the eminent decolonisation expert Dr. Carlyle Corbin, international advisor on governance, former US Virgin Islands minister for external affairs and United Nations expert.
Corbin, who is the Executive Secretary of the Council of Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly (CPGA), will also make a presentation on Implementation of Decolonisation 2020 on a separate panel on "Identity in Non-Independent States."
The Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) is an independent professional organization devoted to the promotion of Caribbean studies from a multidisciplinary, multicultural point of view. It is the primary association for scholars and practitioners working on the Caribbean Region (including Central America and the Caribbean Coast of South America). Its members come from the Caribbean Region, North America, South America, Central America, Europe and elsewhere. The CSA was founded in 1974 by 300 Caribbeanists and now has over 1100 members.
The focus of the CSA is on the Caribbean Basin which includes Central America, the Caribbean Coast of Mexico, as well as Venezuela, Colombia, Northeast Brazil and the three Guianas. The Association serves a critical function for scholars providing one of the only venues for persons working on the Caribbean to come together to share their work, to engage in collaborative endeavors, to exchange ideas, to meet each other, and to develop the field of Caribbean Studies.
Members of CSA have played leading roles in the Caribbean, most notably in public service and inacademia. These include current and past service as leaders of governments, administrators in multilateral and bi-lateral regional organizations. Many current members serve in senior positions at Caribbean, North American, and European universities.
Caribbean profits tumble for Cable & Wireless
(CNS): Financial results for the parent company of LIME, Cable & Wireless have revealed a fall in profits for the communications giant in the Caribbean region. The company said the downturn in earnings stems from its Caribbean arm due to economic conditions impacting usage in the thirteen countries making up the region. C&W said earnings were likely to slide further from £142 million recorded in the year to March, which itself represented a 15 per cent fall. Lower usage and a higher number of people leaving have caused call revenues in the region to fall by 9 per cent.
CWC now expects its underlying earnings from the Caribbean in 2011/12 to be in the range of £112 million- £130 million down by a third in two years.
Tony Rice, chief executive of the London-based Cable, which also has operations in Macau, Panama and Monaco, said the Caribbean has been more difficult than expected since the demerger and it continues to face weak or declining economies in the region.
Profits overall rose by 21 per cent to £287 million on last year, but on an underlying basis the performance was flat as revenues from the Caribbean business declined by 3 per cent.
The outlook for one of the company's most important markets overshadowed a better-than-expected 1 percent rise in core earnings helped by strong trading in Macau.
"We have had to navigate some choppy waters in the Caribbean," Chief Executive Tony Rice told Reuters on Wednesday. "We made no secret of the difficult economic and trading conditions we faced last year, which we continue to face and which we expect will continue next year."
Shares in CWC fell as much as 12 percent as the Caribbean outlook overshadowed full-year results.
CWC has been reshaping its Caribbean operations as it battles reduced tourism and increased competition. Rice said he had no plans to exit the region. "We've been there for a hundred odd years and we expect to see it through," he said.
Witness reveals gang connections in murder trial
(CNS): A former girlfriend of the man accused of killing Marcus Duran, but who is not yet on trial, gave evidence against him via video link on Tuesday, stating that it was his idea to blame the “Logwood boys” for the murder. The crown’s case against teen defendant Jordan Manderson is tied to the theory that he was part of a joint enterprise to rob Duran with Raziel Jeffers, who it says orchestrated the crime and then in the wake of the fatal shooting came up with the plan to blame other West Bay gang members. The mother of Jeffers' son told the court that he told her to go to the police and make a statement saying the boys he was at war with, including Andy Barnes, were probably the ones that shot the numbers man. (Photo courtesy of Cayman 27)
The crown called the nineteen-year-old mother to give evidence in Manderson’s trial because the teen also told police that it was Andy Barnes and Damion Ming (who was shot and killed two weeks later) that killed Duran. The Ecuadorian national was shot twice in the head outside the apartment of the witness’s aunt in Maliwinas Way, West Bay, in March 2010 as he visited her as one of his regular numbers customers.
Seeking to connect Manderson and Jeffers and also offer evidence of a conspiracy to blame others for their joint criminal act, the crown asked Jeffers’ girlfriend, who is now overseas, to tell the court about Jeffers’ activities on the night of the killing.
She revealed how Jeffers had dropped her and their baby that evening at around 6:30pm at her friend’s salon in West Bay at Batabano so she could get her hair done. The witness said he left in the Toyota Wyndham that he usually drove and after being at the salon for quite some time, she said, she received a call from him on her friend’s phone, as her battery was flat.
The witness said Jeffers sounded nervous and out of breathe and asked her to go pick him up, although she did not have a car and he had left in one a couple of hours earlier. He asked her to come get him in her friend’s car.
“I asked what was going on but all he said was he needed a ride right now,” the witness told the court. She said that being aware of the “history between him and the other gangs” and given she could hear sirens in the background, she told her friend that his car had broken down and they should go pick him up. “I didn't know exactly what was going on and didn't want to speculate so I told her best thing that came to mind but I knew what kind of lifestyle Raziel lived,” the witness said.
The two women, along with the baby, set off to collect Jeffers from Ebanks Lane, which is linked to Maliwinas Way, the scene of the shooting, by a short path near the apartments where Duran’s body was found. When they arrived there, she said, at first they couldn’t see Jeffers but he emerged from bushes as they drove up the short lane and jumped into the car. He asked the girls to take him to a friend’s house in Dolphin Point.
Asked if she noticed anything about him by crown counsel, Jeffers' girlfriend said that although he was dressed the same he was no longer wearing the Nike sneakers he had on earlier but a pair of slippers instead and his arms were covered in scratches.
She said that she returned to the salon to finish with her hair and later on Jeffers returned in a van with a friend to pick up her and the baby to take them to an apartment in Ocean Club, where they were spending the night. She told the court that they were living with Jeffers’ father in Fairbanks at the time but this was his cousin’s apartment as Jeffers had said he did not want to stay at home. She revealed how they took a circuitous route out of West Bay before heading to Ocean Club.
That evening she revealed how Jeffers had made several phone calls to a number of his friends saying to her that he needed to know what was going on at Maliwinas Way, including the defendant Jordan Manderson, but she said he failed to reach anyone.
She said that later Jeffers had instructed her to go to the police and give them a statement saying she had the idea that it was Andy Barnes and the Logwood Boys that had killed the numbers man. The witness said these were the boys that Jeffers “was at war with”.
During cross examination it was revealed that the witness had a long time friendship with Damion Ming. This was one of the men that Manderson told police had killed Duran but who was shot and killed in his own yard two weeks after the Duran murder, but she denied having a sexual relationship with him.
Google to show off mobile wallet for Android phones
(BBC): Google is set to introduce a mobile payments platform that will turn its Android smartphones into a digital wallet. At an event in New York on Thursday, the tech giant is expected to show off the technology, called near field communication or NFC.The technology allows devices to "talk" to one another wirelessly. Consumers wave their phones in front of a reader at a checkout to pay for a purchase or to receive special offers.The Wall Street Journal has reported that the program will initially be launched in New York and San Francisco before being extended more widely across the US.
May Time Trials 2011
(CIAA): The Cayman Islands Athletic Association will be hosting their May Time Trials Track & Field Meet on Saturday May 28th at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex starting at 9:00am.
Age groups eligible to participate are: 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17 and over. Events to be contested are: Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Put, Javelin, Discus, Ball Throw, 60m Hurdles, 80m Hurdles, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and 3000m.
Registration forms are available on Cayman Active website at www.caymanactive.com or by contacting or Liz Ibeh at 925-4763, Coach Kenrick Williams 925-4763; Coach Tyrone Yen 925-6917 or Meet Director Harcourt Wason at 916-6966. Forms maybe returned to caymanathletics@gmail.com or anyone of the above persons.
We are also inviting officials to assist with the meet, and interested persons should contact Wason at 916-6966. Registration deadline is Thursday 26 May.