‘Rollover may cost election’
(CNS): The decision to suspend the rollover to reform, or possibly remove, the policy could cost the next election, the premier told members of the business community on Wednesday, but he said he was still prepared to go ahead with the review. McKeeva Bush said that even though people might “twist things around”, he could not see the economy turned upside down and do nothing about it. Pointing to the potential damage to Cayman that the exodus of as many as 5,000 people over the next two years could cause, Bush said he had to something about rollover and was willing to take the political risk. But the premier told the business community that it had to support government initiatives to train more Caymanians.
Delivering the key note speech at the Chamber of Commerce annual legislative lunch, where all members of the country’s parliament are invited to mix and mingle with the business community, the premier said he was well aware of the risk the move to suspend rollover might pose and said, “Our own people probably won’t understand,” but given the situation, as finance minister, he said, it would have been irresponsible to leave it in place.
“If I lose the general election because some ‘bright’ person twists this around and says I am against Caymanians, then so be it,” Bush told the Chamber audience and said he would give opponents a run for their money in West Bay. “But nationally, I am under no illusions about this. We can lose and that’s the risk we take as a political party. But I can’t see our economy turned upside down and not do something about it.”
Bush said that if rollover “has to go, then it has to go,”. He pointed out that it would be difficult to do away with some form of fixed policy and suggested that the country might end up with term limits on occupations. The premier said he believed there was a good committee in place and they would examine what was working what wasn’t and what would be the best way forward.
He told the business community that while the legislation would be amended this week to allow every employer to apply for a work permit for employees due to be rolled over, not every worker would be able to stay beyond the seven year limit. An extension would be granted only when employers have demonstrated a real need and that they have done everything possible to employee Caymanians, the premier stated.
Bush spoke about the need to give certainty to the business community to attract back those who have left and attract new investment, and said it was the uncertainty that had driven business away.
The premier confirmed that he was also bringing an amendment to the immigration bill to the Legislative Assembly on Friday that would empower the boards and the chief immigration officer to grant work permits for up to ten years. These long term permits will provide the much sort after security of tenure for senior management and specialist occupations, which Bush believed would be welcomed by the business community, though there would be pay-back.
“I believe companies that take advantage of this new facility should demonstrate their social responsibility by supporting long term human capital development by contributing financially for a national training initiative,” Bush said.
He added that this would include scholarships and on-going training that would demonstrate that government is serious about training local employees and that the private sector was joining in and doing more to help with that training.
“We must encourage and train,” Bush said and spoke about the need for the private sector to be more involved in the community and encourage inclusiveness. As government helped to create an environment for business, the private sector had to take its responsibility to create jobs and training. He said the private sector wanted less bureaucracy and business friendly policies and government wanted to help, which was why it was taking the political risk of addressing the rollover policy. In return, the private sector had to help generate opportunities for Caymanians.
“I am willing to take the public and political heat for changing the immigration policies to allow businesses to thrive,” Bush said and asked for the businesses to stop measuring success in the amount of money generated in our economy but in how far and wide the wealth was spread. “I expect you in the business community to support solid training initiatives that lead to job placements and advancements for Caymanians and a more efficient workforce, which will lead to more profits.”
He asked the private sector to help create an inclusive, rather than an exclusive society, and assist with a national training initiative and partner with government to make a change to offer more opportunities to all the people.
The lunch was hosted by the Chamber of Commerce at the Westin.
Category: Politics
You mean he still thought he had chance of winning the election?!
Poor Bubbus! He is already lining up his excuse for why he is not winning the next election! Yeah, yeah, yeah – it is always someone elses fault. Got it!
Face facts people. this is about the rights of the worthy (to get status) by work, effort money and time against the rights of Caymanians (to keep staus only amongst themsleves) and get to keep their hands in the $500million a year money pot while it last, (And it is mostly gone except what can be borrowed or owed later) without having to work hard, put in effort, add money to government purse, or prove a good citizen. Am I wrong?
If Caymanians win they lose becasue they alone can not make their own benifits.
If Expats win Caymanians think they lose but they get the benifits of expat work and efforts.
HHMMmmmm. Maybe a balance would be the best thing.
Early this morning I watched a news segment on BBC where in Hong Kong maids from a certain Asian country were demanding residency rights after being there for 7 years. It was taken to the courts and is now workng its way through their judiciary, even in Hong Kong there is an issue with residency after 7 years of domicle.
Why can't Caymanians realise the same and worst is going to happen here once we allow people to remain here for 7 or more years. This is the main issue that needs to be addressed immediately, talking about the 2003 status grants you just wait and see. The Cayman Islands will get the 100 thousand people that the government desires to be self sufficent rather sooner than later. I pity the young people of these islands.
I have said this over the years in letters and talk shows "you need to put in a quota system" . That way outside cultures won't blanket our culture. Then outside people willbe able to simulate with us. Isn't that one of the reasons they are coming here for? Because it was a nice place and that people were friendly?
What happened was that people came here to open up businesses and took advantage. Low pay, then lower pay after 20-30 years ? What happened to cost of living? I believed that the ability to get cheaper labour is not the solution. Why have so many businesses selling the same products or services in such a small island been allowed to compete with established caymanian owned businesses? Isn't that the real reason that so many businesses charge such a high rate for their products and services? ( too much competition) Cuc is mind boggling and they get cheaper duties. Water Co. , hotels and many other businesses too numerous to list also get cheaper duties. But they still complain. It is up to gov't to protect its people from these outrageous prices and plan that we the people have the advantage.
Take for instance the insurance Co. You pay the minimum and they pay hardly anything . Then why pay for ins. coverage? They have no competition they meet once a month and plot there next strategy to make a profit in such a small population. Why don't they rollover them? The Co. are mostly from one part of the caribbean. CINICO has made a profit during a depression . HOW? Everybody else isn't . They are still cherry picking.
If foreigners are allowed to come to Cayman from one or two jurisdictions they will change everything. The culture, the crime, the music, the attitude, the clothes, the food, etc. This is what the rollover was suppose to do. Then of course we are going to have stores and rest. that are not caribbean or Caymanian. That is not a big problem until it takes 20-30 stores and rest. selling only their type of goods and services. That would cause people to segregate and cause the problems we are faced with today.
Why not give PR and Status to every one who qualifies after all it is clearly demostrated by the Premier, people on work permit are the back bone of the country and as a result he is willing to risk his political career on the issue. Cayman this is a done deal, stop complaining after the fact. This is what happened during the 2003 status grants and will happen again. Stop blaming expats for the decisions of our political leaders. Expats are blameless on this issue, it's a Cayman issue. It would be a wonderful thing if 5,000 Caymanian could leave on vacation for 6 months to one year, I wonder if the Premier would ask one of us to return or would he simply replace us.
Please put all the other decisions that need to be made off as well for the next two years and save us from any more bad decisions. It is a pity that you'll did'nt start out doing this, Just imagine how much money we would have saved in the last two years. Please just sit at home and go to the bank at the end of the month to collect your pay, no more first class world travel, or better yet, hang out at the Alexander hotel in the Brac and keep the money in the local economy, this is worth more than what you are being paid for and doing now. Please take this advice and in two years there will be millions of $'s left in the treasury. The actions of this administration will be recorded in the archives as the poorest performers in the history of the Cayman Islands. This is what happens when you hire someone for a job and they are simply not qualified to handle or tackle it. I hope and pray that the next person that wears the title of 'premier' will be capable, intelligent and qualified for the job and 'our own people probably will understand'. The island simply cannot survive another four years of madness or should I say fool foolness. I believe it would be difficult for someone in this government to mark an X by their own name in the next elections.
Stop the deception! this has nothing to do with the rollover and employment it has to do with PR and the granting of Status. It is a donedeal people by 2013 atleast another 5,000 person will qualify for PR and status and with the Human Rights Law that will come into effect at that time do you honestly believe that we can having people living here for over 7 year without security of tenure and the right to residency? good luck with that.
Why is the plight of the expat taking priority over the plight of the Caymanian? Do we have our priorities straight? I am not one to get into expat bashing, and this is not what I am doing, but common sense prevails. This is Cayman, and our Government seems to be more worried about pandering to the wants and wishes of the business community and their so called struggle to hire and retain a workforce. While I agree that it must be a balanced effort, the whole affair seems one-sided simply because we are only paying lip service to the concerns that Caymanians are deliberately being forced out of certain positions. Where is the legislation with teeth? Here are a few suggestions:
1. The labour law currently provides a maximum penalty of 1 weeks pay for every year of employment for unfair dismissal. So for the average Joe who makes 3,000 a month and has worked for 5 years if he is unfairly dismissed the most his employer is required to pay would be just over $3400. Is that really considered acceptable compensation for someone being forced out of a job ? Change the law, remove this ridiculous limit and allow people to seek realistic damages. It has now become commonplace for employers to tell their employees to resign, they provide a nicely written resignation letter for you to sign and a deed of settlement that says you will never bring any claims against them and they calculate the potential fine for unfair dismissal and include that in the severance pay that they give you (which isn’t really required because if you resign you are not entitled to severance). The deed of settlement often states that the payment of the equivalent unfair dismissal amount is there just in case you decide to file a claim the fine would have already been paid. This practice is slick and sneaky and must be stopped.
If you want to get rid of an employee either fire them and be prepared to back it up with facts or ask them to resign and be prepared to prove your point in court. As it currently stands the only party that benefits from this section of the labour law is the employer.
2. The Government needs to establish a database of unemployed Caymanians detailing their qualifications, experience and skills and mandate that prior to any work permit being granted that a search is conducted to ensure that there is not a Caymanian available for the position. Employment Relations has a database of sorts but the information is inaccurate and they quite often send people to interview for jobs who are either over or under qualified for the job and this is a massive waste of time for both the individual and the employer.
3. Employers should be required to inform Employment Relations immediately when an employee leaves their business for whatever reason (fired, resigned, redundant). The department should then contact that individual and register them. From that point on a history of job applications should be maintained so that the department can relay to the immigration boards who is available, who is possibly being discriminated against, which employers have a history of refusing to hire Caymanians, which Caymanians show signs of being unemployable (this could trigger social programs to assist the individual with training, coaching, advice, interview techniques etc etc). Data is needed and once this data is collected and analyzed it would amaze you to see how useful it can be to understand problems and find solutions.
4. A better accountability system is needed that will ensure that for each permit granted the employer is demonstrating good corporate responsibility. A points system might be a way to accomplish this, grade employers on training opportunities, number of Caymanians employed, social programs in place to encourage integration, contributions made to the cultural and social development of the islands, economic impact of the business (proportional) to the islands
Plight of the expat over the plight of the Caymanian?? Really? Thats what you see? Wow! May you get what you want. Caymanians already have a system whereby they get to pick and choose regardless of any rules or regualtions in place. Status? You really expect anyone to belive that all they have to do to get status is to work hard, spend their money in Cayman, and dedicated themselves to a life here? Lots have done just that and they are long gone, Key employee status? How many Caymanian run businesses have gone under from that fiasco? And now your answer is to have more rules, regutations, and laws to protect the poor Caymanian from the expat invasion.
Not to worry. Just let Cayman keep a steady hand on the wheel and keep on the road you are on. Soon you will need more incentive to keep the best Caymanian workers on island.
as much as dislike mckeeva…..he is, for once, doing something that will have no politivcal gain….. we need more of that in cayman…..
Oooh so naive.
Mr Premier your decisions will never allow you to lose the 2013 election, not in a million years. Every expat that can vote will vote for you and your party, there are just not enough Caymanians to stop this process.
Good job expats can't vote then, and as the rollover suspension doesn't mean any extra PR, it will make no difference to the numbers of voters
Expats can't vote??? I wonder if you were not born in a place and have no generational ties to that country what are you? in my opinion you are an expat. FYI defination taken from Wiipedia.
An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence.
The suspension does not mean additional PR, do you really believe so? wait until the legal challenges begin. Let us know, I believe CNS will still be around and people will be allowed to blog. You are just another one of the misinformed, dejavu allover again 2003 status grants, friend you aint seen nothing yet.
"Every expat that can vote…" ?????
Who are these people?
Slowpoke, the expats that can vote maybe some of your friends with PR and CS who is now given the right to vote maybe you are one of those people… check you passport and their's and it will give you all the answers, just look for the place of birth, althought this is not always the case another way to check is the place of birth of the individual and his/her mother and if this is Cayman, sorry you're an expat. If this is not enough go to the immigration department and check to see if permission had to be given for them to live and remain here.
My passport is Caymanian…
Kurt T was born in Jamaica…
Mac's kids were born in the US…
But if my mother was born in Cayman I am an Expat?
I know that this was posted to generate a little laughter, and I hate so much to say this, but your comment is so true that it hurts..
It would be nice to see the stats on these 5,000 people that will cause the island to crumble or will cause it to have a earthquake. Actually these are indispensible? Wow. Then a few entities will perish. eg. 5,000 less airline tickets for Cayman Airways – that's not good economics – Come on McKeva, tell us who, where, what categories- which companies these 5,000 people are comnig from. most likely Applyby, Maples and the top notch are mostly who will be effected from the rollover. If McKeva would lower some fees and let poor people invest in their own country we would be better off. The fees imposed since UDP has been in place is terrible. We can not survive – PPM starved us to death- and UDP has come along and is choking us to death.
All of the lawerys and executives from law firms, that wanted status already have it and as for the rollover affecting the staff that they want to keep it will never happen so set your mind at ease don't worry about them they are already covered. The 5,000 persons that are slated from rollover are for those in other sectors that will make up the voting population that will forever keep the UDP in power.
mmm….I think it is less likely to be the rollover and more likely to be the "conspiracy theory"…..
Mr. Premier, you lost the 2013 elections along time ago. I hope we never have to deal with you again, or your cronies!!! You mouth was your biggest down fall!!!
The global economy is one hot mess, so with or without a rollover there will soon be a mass exodus of people from the Cayman Islands. The financial industry and banking are both on the decline and with all the laws that are being created daily to stop tax avoidance and put tax havens out of business do you believe Cayman's financial industry will survive much longer if this continues, just look at the pressure that is coming to bear on Switzerland.
Caymanians had better do their preparations for that time and don't get blind sided. Our young people had better begin to train for careers in the medical field, teaching and tourism. Just take a look at what is happening in the USA and Europe with financial industry employees and even law, jobs are hard to get in those professions. People who had MBA and law degrees are now being retrained in other areas so Caymanian wake up and stop listening to hog wash from people who cannot see beyond their noses. The glory days of the financial industry is over.
EVERYTHING you have done in office will cost you the election1 I vow never to vote for a party which Mac is part of.
'But the premier told the business community that it had to support government initiatives to train more Caymanians'
The government should set an example and not allow high ranking civil servants to employ their children over the summer break! The time could be used to train Caymanians that have shown an interest in the particular field of work.
This plan will only sprout the proper checks and balances are in place, which to date have been anything but. I can’t believe I am saying this but, props to Bush for recognizing the need for skilled outside employees as prior rollover has ousted many of caymans finest/hardest workers. I know many people will say something along the lines of “this gives criminals 10 years to infiltrate our rock”. However if the proper checks and balances are put in place this will be a benefit in the long run. I am not opposed to granting cayman-born first “dibs” on a job if they are qualified and have the same credentials but good luck trying to find them. Majority of these “rollover employees” are foreign yes that is true, but other than being guilty of not leaving when their work visa expires, how many of the “rollover employees” are contributing to the murders/armed robberies?
McKeeva is finally seeing his political end people! :<)
Hey! Mr Bush, 5000 leaving don't mean we won't have 5000 or more coming in.
Sounds like another granting of status for votes.
If 5000 were to leave and these jobs were not filled that would tell me that we have "over employment " jobs that are not necessary. The truth is if someone has to leave a job because they are rolled over, and that job is necessary they will be replaced.
Yes it will be a pain for the employer and I do believe the rollover needs to be revised. But to use this type of statistical games to make it sound so ominous is just deceiving. Something we have come to expect from the Premier.
So why those who left already weren't replaced and why are there 2,200 vacant properties?
Let me answer that.
Several things have been brought to bear here.
1) We have over apartmentalized the Cayman Islands. We have been building at a torrid pace not realising that things can turn.
2) Apartment rental prices were steadily on the rise since Ivan.
3) Let's not forget the work permit hikes make by UDP government.
4) Recession.
So if you combine them all you have the perfect cocktail for the disaster we are in. Recession hits, UDP raises permits and businesses either can't or won't pay it, so they start cutting employees which means apartments go empty.
See how I tied that all up in a nice little bundle for you.
This has to do with economics which UDP failed at time and time again. You want someone to blame, blame the people ACTING like the saviour to the Cayman Islands because more than anyone and that includes PPM they took a boat on high seas and threw away the oars.
What a martyr …. bring out the violins. With or without suspension of the rollover he is gonna lose the next elections regardless – he's lost the faith of the people long before he came up with this hairbrain scheme. Suspending the rollover and this "review", the introduction of the new 10 year permit and the insistence that the private sector should do for the government what the government itself should be doing for the Caymanian people (providing better educational and vocational training facilities so that Cayman can produce its own employees fit to take those occupations currently being held by expats) is simply worsening the existing expat v caymanian divide and causing more confusion and destabilization within the country, as if we aren't in a shambolic confused mess already. The only feedback I am getting from private sector employees due to be rolled over is confusion, and the feeling that whatever replaces the rollover will only make things worse, and I must say, I have to agree. Sure thing is, many of the expats I work with and speak to are still planning to leave because they don't see things getting better, so he may well still have an exodus on his hands unless he comes up with something more sensible.
I was glad when Bush came into power and I had hope, but ever since I have regretted that feeling and wished the man would stop all his foolishness and step down. I'm not a PPM fan either, but credit where its due, Alden's PR suggestion is waaaaaaayyyy more sensible and straightforward than Bush and the IRTs confusing array of suggestions so far. At least through Aldens way we could see some certainty, uniformity of decision and hopefully the local community and expats can all get along again, not to mention a huge saving on the methods, confusion, and cost of dealing with work permit applications.
After two years of ineptness, crookedness, and a general disregard for the people's wishes why would anyone make the rollover policy a factor in how they vote in the next elections?
It’s called “the straw that broke the camel’s back”. This society can only take some much of the rubbish that spills forth from our leader’s lips. I’m sure there will be more reasons for losing the election forthcoming. I like how he is already giving reasons for his untimely departure from the next election.
I am not in favor of either the UDP or the PPM. I think this island deserves better long term planning leaders and I hope they appear in the near future.
I am not shocked by this idea of suspending rollover at all though. All administrations since Ivan have known this was going to be a problem. Instead of coming up with a complete and solid plan for dealing with the issue the current administaration is simply suggesting that the part of the law that "rolls a person over" should be suspended.
So people won't get rolled over, but somehow they may not be able to apply for PR. In addition lets grant some people a 10 years work permit. Oh and lets also consider suggesting that people who don't get rolled over can't count those "2 rollover suspension years" towards there PR application date.
Do you see what is going on here? That 2 year rollover suspension will be one of the first things the next administration needs to address. What will they do with those people? The opposition will complain about whatever idea is proposed to remedy it and this will turn into a long drawn out process with no good solutions.
Of course the current administration is willing to say "I am under no illusions about this. We can lose and that’s the risk we take as a political party." In my opinion they already doubt they will get re-elected due to their lack of leadership, future planning and now "conspiracy theory" accusations that have everyone wondering what flavor of kool-aid we are actually being asked to drink.
The bottom line is that this type of suspension is not a real solution it is just a form of procrastination for a topic that desperately needs a solution during this governments term. If you think immigration is a nightmare of confunsion now, just wait 2 years when you have people trying to figure out if they can apply for PR? Will they be rolled-over then? should they apply for Key Employee?
The real solution is for the government to set up a permanent board of Caymanians to evaluate PR applications full time. That is their job, they work for the government, permanently to get through all the PR applications that need to come through. Let anyone about to be rolled over, apply for PR, if they so desire. The board will decide who is granted PR and who isn't as they do now. The only difference is you have a dedicated team working on it full time, because that is what is required.
This option gives Caymanians control over who can stay and who needs to move on. PR does still not give any person who is successful in their application the right to vote so it won't effect elections. Some will say the government can't afford to pay a board full time to review all the applications but that is simply not true. All of the PRs that may be granted will be generating fees paid annually by the people to whom they are granted. 5,000 PR application fees and any respective grants they generate over the next 2 years will pay for the board and then some.
I am simply dissappointed by the lack of foresight of leaders(not just in Cayman but around the world). If you really want to make your country better then plan past the end of your term and quit trying to establish bureaucratic quagmires for the next administration to deal with.
Mr. Premier. what would you rather, 5000 foreigners leaving OR 5000 homeless Caymanians ????
Mr Premier is very misleading and disceptive all at the same time.
He would have us believe that he does not stand to benefit from new voters who gain their papers on his watch when in 2003 it was he who did this very thing that assisted in him getting elected in 2009.
Mr Bush if you loose your spot at the polls it will not be for this but for everything else. For all the underhanded sneaky stuff you have done, all the proposed things the people hated and you still wanted to pass, all the deals that went bellyup due to ill conceived plans with no research. It will be because of YOU and ONLY YOU.
As much as the parents have failed the kids YOU Mr Bush have failed us and come 2013 we will let you know JUST HOW MUCH THAT FAILURE IS.
So please do not waste or time with silly stupid remarks because we all know one simple fact. You would NEVER EVER EVER EVER do anything that was not in YOUR BEST INTEREST. With you it has NEVER BEEN ABOUT US it's been all about YOU.
So you can do us all a favour and resign now and save us the anxiety of ELECTION DAY.
PPM is already suggesting you scrap the Roll Over so tell me how you agreeing with them is going to make you loose anything???
The perception that the new status grantees voted in UDP is flawed.
The Civil Service decides who controls the LA because they are a huge percentage of the prolitariat.
The politician that tries to tame that beast, bites the hand that feeds him, therefore the only way to break the cycle is to widen the political base to include all residents of more than five years, thus reducing the political weight of the group that consumes wealth rather than creating it.
The politician’s need not then fear the Civil Service and won’t be able to afford to buy the larger number of votes. The politicians fear “the loss of political control”. The people should not because the politicians would have to do better for the wider and more diversified voters.
The interest of expats and Caymanians are more aligned than most people seem to think. Just look at the results of any on-line poll. The majority nearly always choose the right answer therefore Caymanians should have some faith that most expats want the same things they want. Better integration and inclusiveness is key to our future success.
How in the world can the PPM take credit for the Premier actions to suspend the rollover.
It is utter non sence. Remember how the PPM wanted to take matters to court because the Premier granted you people status. Give due where it is deserved.
Island Prophet says, dont anyone fool themselves into thinking that MacKeeva Bush will loose the election. He will not. Why not? Because the people of Cayman Love him. MacKeeva Bush will not loose in West Bay. He has been good to his people, he is a good leader, and loves West Bayers, after al he is a West Bayer. You really think that the people of West Bay is not proud to know that the Premier of the Island is from their district. Anyone looked at West Bay Lately. It is the most advanced and beautiful District, because they have a leader that care, no matter how much a handful may disagree.
The next district to West Bay is Bodden Town, Dont go up there and have anything to say about MacKeva Bush, take my advice, they will badmind you take my advice. Even the PPM is voting for him up there.
George Town with all of its flavours is next, they are going to Vote for MacKeeva Bush team, but after all who else would you vote for.
Cayman Brac the sensible Island, will definately keep there UDP seat.
East End and North Side. They too are going to vote UDP.
The prophet says, Pray tell me who else can do a better Job. If the old car is working good, dont sell it. You know what you have, but you dont know what you will get.
The old car isn't working. In fact it has been a disaster. Any sensible person who supported McKeeva Bush and the UDP in the last election must regret it. Just about anyone would be a better Premier.
Mr. Bush, Don't you know by now that people on this Island are on to your tactics? As always when you become fearful of losing an election you use the "POOR OLD ME" ploy! You are one of the most devious persons I have ever met. Any thing that will or might draw sympathy toward you will use. But I'd like to remind you that the people of this Island, including a majority of West-Bayers have have become aware of your modus-operandi, so resign and enjoy your millions and I'm sure the people of this beloved Island will give you a most deserving send off! Just remember you have pulled this sympathy crap for so long it Doesn't work any longer. Have you noted that none of your team has been coming to your defense here of late? Take a hint Mac [resign] cause even they are tired of you.
You lost the next election long before this
Bush and Bodden-Cowan's ideas and thinking are clear as mud, highly convoluted, confusing, etc. and only serve to increase the uncertainty of businesses and potential investors and will do nothing to turn around the economic situation. Their suggestion of a temporary suspension while they again review the immigration laws to come up with a new set of rules (what the hell has IRT been doing for the past 2 years ?), and meanwhile telling people they can't count the temporary cessation period towards their PR applications, is ludicrous and laughable. Only Alden's idea on scrapping the rollver and key employee thing entirely and allowing everyone an equal chance to get to year 8 and apply for PR under a points system, makes sense. That is what will give certainty to businesses. First intelligent thing I have heard in a long time, and I lift my hat off to PPM for making that recommendation.
Have anyone done any research of the exodus of Caymanians in the last 5 years? Looking for work in another country. Please include the unemployed that are still struggling in Cayman also. 5000 leave another 5000 will arrive, just make sure its not all cheap labour that break Immigration housing laws and bringing infectious diseases when they go on vacation back home.
Infectious diseases – really – a new low for this blog!!
Are these infectious diseases something they have picked up here?
Rollover will be the straw that breaks the camel's back? Uh – no. That would be the conspiracy theory last week that confirmed this guy is absolutely a crazy chicken running the one of the worst banana republics in the region.
although i still think this is the worst administration ever….i say fair play to him…he is taking on a subject that is treated by as hot potato by all political parties……
at least he is trying to do something unlike the ppm who sleepwalked us into a recession….
How naive!! Do you not think Mr Bush gets foreign votes from people who get status or PR? Do you not recall the Status fiasco? Do you think he did this to loose teh coming elections?
This is playing to the idle minds of people who don't know anything.
This is is attempt to backdoor an election.
Let’s use a little common sense here. We have seen the majority of the large firms (legal, banks, Trust and others) go through a process of reducing their staff either by layoffs or simply not renewing contracts and permits.
None of these "redundancies" were due to the rollover policy and were clearly attributed to the global economic crisis and were considered necessary in order to reduce operating costs. If the rollover was having such a devastating impact on these businesses why did they layoff employees?
Secondly, lets also apply common sense to the current unemployment which was pegged at 7% in May. If 7% of our work force is unemployed that suggests that there is more labor available to do the work than there is work to be done. (again simple common sense). This means that suspending the rollover will have no real impact on unemployment, volume of business and revenues in the short or long run.
The real fix for unemployment would be to increase the demand for our good/services, how do we do this ? Reduce the price! It is simple economics folks. Reduce the price of tourism, legal services, banking, apartments, land, etc and demandfor these things will go up, requiring additional labor and resources to meet the demand, and the overall effect will be a reduction in unemployment, and increased revenues.
APARTMENTS AND HOMES ARE SITTING EMPTY BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO EXPENSIVE!
This recent move to abolish the rollover is therefore motivated by something else, and perhaps the UDP Government have somehow been convinced that this is a good idea by some "advisor" who is motivated to ensure that the people of these islands not only lose their economic position but are also weakened politically as well.
The business community will get what they want, the roll over policy suspened — but it won't be any quid- pro- quo as they won't train any more Caymanians than what they are doing now. Which by the way is at a minimum, if at all.
The companies that are full of expats make a deliberate effort to push/'persuade' Caymanians out of jobs so they can bring in more permit holders.
And another thing, one of those jobs that are to be set aside for Caymanians should be HR positions. Hope the Premier has the political will do legislate that.
How can you expect a Caymanian to get a job when the very first obstacle is the HR department? That is a problem with most or all of the companies who hire less Caymanians than they should. Check it out! Big time hotel – expat HR.
God knows, some of them throw away the applications for Caymanians and have a good laugh amongst their expat friends about it. They also talk amongst themselves that they need to 'persuade' Caymanians to leave their jobs.
What they Premier needs to do is change the immigration law so that for every 2 permit holders there needs to be one Caymanian in the company. That't the only way we will ever be able to survive in our country.
Love the fiction – ever thought about writing fantasy novels?
HAHA, the man is already laying the foundation to his excuses for when he is ousted from office, even though I pray it will be well before the elections, for Cayman's sake!
The Premier is being very disingenious. It was PPM who came up with the idea to SCRAP the rollover, not just merely temporarily suspend it, and recommended that Cayman allow everyone to get to year 8 to have an equal chance to apply for PR, and once they qualify, to actually get the PR, as that would be the only thing that could halt the exodus and the ever worsening recession in Cayman. That showed guts on PPM's part, considering their previous role in implementing UDP's policy by expelling a lot of people due to the rollover during the PPM's tenure. So if anyone would be taking the political heat, it would be PPM, for finally recognizing publicly that rollover is not working and suggesting that it be scrapped. Now the Premier is trying to make it seem that UDP are the ones who came up with the idea and they have to do whatever they have to do, in order to "save the country", although it might end up costing them elections. They trying to make it seem they have this country's best interests at heart no matter the political consequences to them. In other words,they are taking credit for themselves, and if the economy recovers due to this, they will say, "see what we did, we had enough forsight to scrap the rollover and look how it helpedthe economy, we did what was best for the country and turned things around, no matter if it meant we would lose the next elections". I don't know who they are trying to fool.
CORRECTION: Since Alden took the spotlight andreplaced Kurt, he recommended scrapping the rollover policy some months ago this year. The rollover policy was always supported by the PPM until Alden changed his mind.
"Disingenious"?? Lovely word but it doesn't exist.
It really should, though. There's a lot of it going around!
Actually it may be just a typo the word Disingenuous does exist!
dis·in·gen·u·ous/ˌdisinˈjenyo͞oəs/
Please don't pick on the Lil Guy! He only used a wrong letter in the word. That's not as bad as the Minister for Education constantly mispronouncing the word "VERY".
As in that's "WERY WERY" bad!
They WILL LOSE the next elections if they do not MAKE some DECISIONS! Forget about Immigration.
GET the projects OUT OF CABINET and into the street TODAY.
Big mistake Mr. Bush. This is not the way to go at all. We can't find jobs now and you are telling us that the expat can stay even longer, perhaps ten years at a time for a permit?
Please Lord, let the next election roll around fast because I won't be voting UDP!
Except the other party is also advocating abolosihment of the rollover…..so who will you be voting for?
Ezzar Miller and the Independents
Hopefully they will make the right decisions and not just approve projects just to get them out. I really liked the Tech Zone presentation at the onset. But it is quite obvious in its current form it is not good for the entire island. It is primarily a real estate deal. Govt should take it upon themselves and rewrite the law to make the Cayman Islands attractive to Technology companies. It provides the same outcome allowing the opportunity for existing commercial properties the ability to provide rental space.
It will be very interesting to see exactly what policy he will replace the roll over with.
I noticed in the letter that he spoke about business showing that they have at least made an attempt to hire Caymanians. This has always been a part of the basic work permit application but I feel has not been adressed by the immigration department.