Rebuilding Grand Cayman

[zf2nt]

This is primarily a question for Drew, or anybody else who has spent extensive time on Grand Cayman watching the local politics and the functioning of the economy there.

I can't help but wonder who is going to do the real grunt work of rebuilding Grand Cayman. My impression is that one could put all of the skilled Caymanian carpenters in one room--and a very small one at that. I tried and tried to hire someone to help me build my house on Little Cayman, but was never successful. I did get one Caymanian to work for me for a week, but then he quit. After that, the only help I was ever able to get was for a few weeks when I rented a Jamaican from a "construction company" in Cayman Brac. I put "construction company" in quotes because in reality this was one company owner (who knew absolutely nothing about construction) and a big pile of Jamaican work permits. It is my understanding that all of the Jamaicans are now being evicted from the country, so I wonder who will be left to do the work of rebuilding? Even Robert Hurlstone's work crews appeared to me to be mostly Jamaican.

Has there been any move to relax the work permit rules to allow skilled laborers to come to CI? I just cannot imagine how all of those missing roofs are going to be replaced unless the CI government takes aggressive steps to recruit skilled laborers. But I also wonder if the people in power have any understanding just how dependent their construction industry has become on imported--and primarily Jamaican--labor.

Bruce

 

[nipi]

Bruce.

I don't think it's correct to say that "all of the Jamaicans are being evicted". Earlier last week Robert Hammaty (who's some sort of Jamaican consular official here) was on Radio Cayman telling Jamaicans that they should ask their employers whether they were considered "essential" and if their employers said no then they could take one of the free Air Jamaica flights home but otherwise they could stay. He completely scotched the rumour that all Jamaicans were being sent home because of the looting (in fact, if you listen to Derek Haines in the mornings it seems that most of the people arrested for looting have been Caymanian not Jamaican).

This country survives largely because of the number of Jamaicans & others here prepared to do the less remunerative jobs that Caymanians feel beneath them or for which there simply aren't enough Caymanians available. There is no way we will be able to rebuild without the Jamaican labourers etc and we should be actively recruiting more. In fact there's a Jamaican mechanic hopefully fixing my jeep as I write.

On the work permit front I know there has already been some relaxation of getting temporaries & renewals. It seems sensible to first allow workers already here to get renewals quicker - I think you can also work for more than one employer as well. As to bringing more people in, this will have to happen but I guess it will need to be balanced against finding them housing etc.

Which is your house on LCM? How did it fare? I spoke to Betty yesterday - we were supposed to be taking a pig over for her birthday last week but that'll have to wait now.

Steve

P.S. - the only builder I know on LCM is Robin Fite - did he do yours?

 

[zf2nt]

I don't think it's correct to say that "all of the Jamaicans are being evicted".

Thanks for the clarification...and for what really amounts to very good news indeed.

This country survives largely because of the number of Jamaicans & others here prepared to do the less remunerative jobs that Caymanians feel beneath them or for which there simply aren't enough Caymanians available. There is no way we will be able to rebuild without the Jamaican labourers etc and we should be actively recruiting more.

I'm well aware of all that! This is why I was so concerned when I read the reports (which I now understand to have been grossly exaggerated) that they were kicking all of the Jamaicans out of the country. You said it yourself...there's no way the country could rebuild without Jamaican laborers, except perhaps by going out and recruiting large numbers of Honduranians, or whatever.

P.S. - the only builder I know on LCM is Robin Fite - did he do yours?

Nope, I did it all myself. Robin gave me lots of good advice during the construction process, but I was never able to strike a deal with him to take on any of the work. (I tried, but he was booked for 3 years into the future!) I did get Johnny Scott to work for me for a week sifting sand, mixing morter, and handing me blocks...but then he quit. A while later, I rented a Jamaican from a Brac construction company while I was installing siding. Other than that, though, I did it all myself. And it's not quite true that Robin is the only show in town. One of the firemen, Whitman Tatum, has built up a nice little construction business. He's now completely absorbed rebuilding Southern Cross and then I guess he will be back to the Central Caribbean Marine Institute. Also, there are some people from Cayman Brac who occasionally take on projects on Little Cayman.

The house did survive, by the way. Betty went over and checked it for me right after the storm and reported only very minor damage to the back gutters. During the storm, the waves came all the way up the beach and swept under the house. You have no idea how glad I am that I made the design decision to elevate the house and build it on pilings rather than on a slab.

Bruce

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Rebuilding will take the efforts of many, both Caymanians and expats.

The Governor acted under his emergency authority to impose some changes in the work permit processing for both emergency permits and renewals. He also made it easier for people to work outside their permit for the same employer or for a diffreent employer. Still, there has to be paperwork done for everything and I haven't heard about any waiver of work permit fees.

Cayman will need many skilled tradesmen. Many of these workers are expats, from Jamaica and elsewhere. Before the storm they were working on large projects such as the Ritz Carlton as well as small projects. To meet teh demand which Ivan has created, they will need to pull in additional outside labor.

I have seen construction projects move on "island time". We cannot afford this philosophy at this time. I even mentioned to my brother-in-law that his skills as a stonemason would be greatly in demand and he could probably keep himself very busy in Cayman for several months.

 

[nipi]

Bruce - I'm guessing your house is the one two-thirds of the way along the north coast with the small dock out front.

Drew - I understand that, before Ivan, Michael Ryan was using his clout to either fasttrack or completely circumvent the permit process for Ritz construction workers. If Govt. could do that for him then, surely they can do it to benefit the country now.