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
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