Cayman: ‘Don’t Want Competition Ahead Of Us’
The Cayman Islands Government says it is “closely monitoring” developments in Bermuda after the six-year Term Limit for work permit holders was scrapped.
Cayman presently has a seven-year term limit, and changes to the policy have been a subject of discussion in the Overseas Territory.
Compass Cayman reports that the Cayman Islands government is “taking notice” of Bermuda’s decision to abolish Term Limits, with the Deputy Premier calling it a matter of “urgent importance.”
Speaking on immigration reform, Cayman’s Deputy Premier Rolston Anglin said, “I would hope that members would see this as an issue of urgent importance … because we certainly would not want any of our competition getting ahead of us.”
Earlier this week, Minister of Home Affairs Michael Fahy said Government will eliminate the 6-year Term Limit Policy “with immediate effect,” with the aim of sparking economic growth and creating jobs for Bermudians.
The move was welcomed by the Chamber of Commerce and Bermuda Employers’ Council, while the Opposition PLP noted that the One Bermuda Alliance had pledged to suspend Term Limits for two years — rather than ending them — and asked what happened to the suspension.
You can read the Cayman Compass’ report here, and watch a video report from Cayman27 here.
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- Upcoming: Public Discussion On Term Limits | Bernews.com | February 11, 2013
Good Move OBA!!!
Well Done!
First time in years we’ve been ahead of the Caymans! Brilliant!
REALLY?!?!?! How so? Or are you doing a victory dance when the first half has only started. Besides cayman has been looking at term limit revisions since late 2010 so we are still behind. The difference between us & them is their government is making calculated decisions while ours past & present grasps at straws. Same ish different government.
they looked at them…OBA did something about them.
Lats see how fast Cayman matches Bermudas’ move, maybe upping the ante. They don’t seem to be asleep at the wheel down there, unlike Bermuda for the past 14 years with the PLP.
It is called competition. It is called business. You need competitive business minded people to be successful.
… ? Really? Have you not been following the news down there? I support the OBA’s move, but I hardly think The Cayman Islands are in any way an example for us—or anyone else—to follow. Say what you will about our current and previous Governmrnt, we are at least very politically stable. And that means a lot.
And a much more advanced regulatory structure as well…
In 5 years BDA will be back to 1990′s 110% over-employment. Although the UBP were not socially well liked, they did keep ensure everyone that wanted work could find a job
Another who counts chickens before they hatch. Hopefully you don’t mind ugly ducklings because when more local layman or laypeople to be politically correct become unemployed because foreign workers can stay indefinitely it will get ugly.
Can I ask why you think that we have the highest unemployment figures in the history of the island which happend under term limits?
This is because under our previous governments term limits were only enforced some of the times but most times not. Sadly the majority of times they were enforced were with IB not local businesses which amplified the woes of recession but not the sole cause. One of the biggest problems with plp is they played a tug-o-war with themselves & this is because some ministers have investments with local businesses while others do not. I’m willing to bet if we turned back time & plp ministers could have invested in IBs like they are with other businesses here we would be singing a different tune. We must face reality that much of the local population does not have the education to fit in IB but that doesn’t mean that they can’t fit in other occupations but the problem is employers hiring foreigners over Bermudians in those other ones.
I’m not against finding ways to make permit policies more flexible with IB but instead minister fahy did it all around without thought. Many countries have term limit or permit policies that have different categories for different types workers but we don’t.
If you have lived here for more than ten years & have been cognizant you would notice that within the time of plp’s election till about a year after ewart stole his seat you’d notice that there were businesses that significantly changed their workforce from a almost fully Bermudian one to a majority foreign one. What I find even more coincidental is that the foreign workers that significantly replaced Bermudians were not multicultural as one would think in a random employment process they would be but all came from the same area of the globe that plp was taking trips to for supposed “tourist promotion reasons”.
Thank you for your response.
But we will have to agree to disagree.
Except on the lack of education part of which I wholeheartedly agree. I have read how in several offshore jurisdictions they have introduced reinsurance focues accounting courses in local high schools as well as other economy driven curriculum. But the attitude towards education (by parents and students alike) need to be changed in order for any such scheme to be remotely effective in BDA.
Again this assumption of yours is that all Bermudians can & want to work white collar jobs. We need all types of workers to make up our societies workforce. There are many hands non desk jobs that foreigners are given permits for that they have no skills in to begin with. I know of foreign waiters that never had teaching or experience in waiting before working in Bermuda I also know of foreign tilers, landscapers, retail sales people, managers, janitors, caregivers, food & beverage makers who did not have teaching or experience in these jobs before setting foot on island. These people were taught what they know on site. Bermudians could be taught the same but are not because of prejudices felt by employers towards Bermudians.
f you are wondering no not all these employers are Bermudians they are just married to locals or have been given permanent resident status. I’ll admit some are Bermudian but its still possible for someone can still be condescending of their own nationals especially if not the same race or class status as them.
@TC so you admit that Term Limits was at best, a misguided policy that served no real purpose but to drive an overstress economy into depression status?
I don’t feel term limits was a misguided policy that served no real purpose but to drive an overstressed economy into depression status. If this was case so many other countries with term limits would have done away with them long ago especially countries like switzerland with their fingers so close to the pulse of economy. What was misguided was plp supporter’s belief that the plp was actually making sure immigration & term limit rules were being enforced. I never was in full support of plp as I didn’t fully trust them but I too was misguided & admittedly fool heartedly voted for oba who promised to stimulate Bermudian jobs growth by giving employers a two-year payroll tax exemption for all new Bermudian hires & protect Bermudian jobs by cracking down on employers who abuse immigration rules.
Tommy, though I agree with the governments move to a point; I think you are right with its use being across the board.
Not being discriminating to any culture or class of people, I think the real problem with the original Term Limit policy was it’s affect on ALL jobs carried out by Guest Workers/Ex-Pats. Let’s be real, and again not being discriminating; do jobs like Kitchen Porters for example compare to the CEO of a major company?
Maybe a yearly wage base job could be used as a measuring point? I’m not sure as I have played this thought over in my mind and during discussions with both Bermudians and Guest Workers/Ex-Pats.
One thing I do know; and this is for a lot of Bermudians talking about uprisings and rioting over a policy change, educate yourself on Term Limits and Work Permits. To be honest, an unbiased and well ran Immigration Department should be able to protect Bermudians for job opportunities.
Really, some jobs I see done by guest Workers/Ex-Pats, can be done by Bermudians with just a High School Certificate or less; did Bermudians not apply because they thought the job was beneath them, or did the Employer and Immigration cheat?
Its strange that neither this article nor the one linked from cayman elaborate properly on cayman’s term limit policy. Caymans term limits are not set in stone to seven years in fact they are key employees get nine years and the term limit of a worker who is not a key employee is seven years save that in the case of a worker employed in a prescribed occupation and industry his term limit shall be ten years. Also another strange thing is the cayman premier announced in 2011 a two year suspension of term limits but this is not mentioned either. If a two year suspension was indeed put in place cayman has still not seen a positive result from it then it goes to show term limits were not the problem after all.
At least for caymans sake their government’s ministers are intelligent enough to test the term limit waters & mull over decisions before making a brash one unlike ours. Brash decisions were the downfall of Bermuda with the plp now we have a new government doing the same with an empty promise of a change.
I wholeheartedly agree that we don’t want brash decisions. This lead to several disasters over the years in my opinion. However, term limits had been in place for a believe near a decade and the evidence had shown that they were not working. So I wouldn’t call reversing a policy that had been in place for 10 years and proven an utter failure, a brash decision.
But going forward, I hope that whatever government is in place does due diligence on all decisions and avoid brash moves that hurt us.
Even minister fayh stated he found that term limits were not enforced under plp. If something is put in place but not used how can it be proven to really work? I believe that term limits was a good idea even if it was not an original one but one taken from other country’s models it had to be melded to suite us but instead was put in but hardly enforced or analyzed for improvements.
Yeah ask cayman hows there upsurge of crime!!!!
Why don’t you ask Bermudians in the upsurge of violent crimes and murders in the last few years. And guess what these occurred with term limits in place. OMG, who would’ve thunk it?
U think only murders is crime,instead of talkn s%^$ look at news reports in tbe Caymans i DUMB F$#@
Didn’t the Caymanian premier get arrested on corruption charges? And they still think they’re “ahead”? If I was a CEO of a large company, I would stay clear of the Caymans.
All you nay sayers! Roll over and go to sleep. This is the PROGRESSION Bermuda needed. Welcome back foreigners and foreign business we are putting back into place the savy yet friendly business strucutre we invented.
Look forward to welcoming you back. Any Bermudians against it I suggest you move away the UK and US have same unemployment issues now as we did under PLP, so won’t be to much of a shock to you.
Well done OBA! Please don’t stop making necessary changes for the better of this Island. In case you haven’t noticed some people don’t like change but they’ll get over it. I am sooooooooooooooo glad that I marked your box.
After some thought I have to agree that the total removal of Term Limits was the best decision to make. It sends a clear message to JOB CREATORS that Bermuda is now much more open to attracting their new business. If the 2 year suspension had been put in place it would have left doubt and uncertainty for those same people and would make them hesitate to start a new business with the thought that Term Limits might return. The message is clear. Bermuda now has less restrictions for operating a business. That can only help CREATE NEW JOBS for Bermudians and others. The whole mandate of the OBA is to create jobs, by removing Term Limits they are making it easier for NEW JOBS to be created.
Some might have a knee jerk reaction to removing Term Limits thinking it limits the average Bermudians chances of getting a good job. The opposite is true, it will actually create more job opportunities for Bermudians in the long run and make for more diverse job offerings.
The PLP have very little ammunition when it comes to job creation and seem to be full of hot air recently. They just don’t seem to want to get the concept of businesses requiring a Government that understands the needs of business and actually responds to them genuinely. The businesses are the ones that create jobs not the Government. The Government can only create an environment that is attractive to business and the jobs will follow. The PLP will never be seen as business friendly if they can’t grasp that concept as was demonstrated throughout the recent election. They just don’t get it and the fact that many in their support base don’t get it either seems to prevent them from getting it.
We must all give the OBA a chance to try their very different approach to the failed policies of the PLP Government. And before anyone says we are in a Global crisis, while that is true, there is no reason why Bermuda should be 6th from the bottom of a list of 200 countries for GDP growth for 2011. The PLP Government failed to protect Bermuda in any way. Inaction for the last 4 years, apparently unable to do anything, more concerned with trying not to upset their supporters leading up to the election. Well that plan failed us all. The OBA have a difficult task ahead, but somebody had to come along and actually do something to rescue Bermuda. As Paula Cox used to say but not do, it’s time to grasp the nettle.