Chamber Members meet with Government officials at Labour Forum
The Chamber Labour Forum
Chamber Members meet with Government officials at Labour Forum
The Chamber of Commerce held its Labour Forum at Governor’s Square on Thursday 2 March.
Chris Saunders, who was Deputy Premier and Minister of Labour at the time, hosted the meeting. Mr. Saunders was joined by Chief Officer Wesley Howell and the then Acting WORC Director, Jeremy Scott in providing an update in labour statistics and policy and inviting feedback from Chamber Members. Mr. Scott and Mr. Howell described the new rule, effective from 31 March, which requires employers to advertise a temporary job vacancy through the WORC JobsCayman portal. Mr. Howell explained that the new rule was to provide “Broader outcomes for the Government,” and “Increased visibility,” for Caymanians seeking job opportunities.
Mr. Saunders said that the Government had been focussing on ‘getting the economy back to normal,’ after COVID-19 restrictions, and was presently operating with a significant budgetary surplus, Mr. Saunders said.
There would be a new accreditation scheme for employers applying for work permits, with ‘Red,’ Green,’ and ‘Amber,’ designations, dependent on how well they had followed rules and guidelines in the past. Fully automated (online) work permit applications would soon be coming, and these would have the effect of streamlining the applications process.
There were several questions from the floor on what was being done to reduce work permit waiting times. In answer, Mr. Scott reassured attendees that considerable progress had already been made, and that soon average waiting times would be around half what they were a year ago.
Tourism and Transport Minister the Hon. Kenneth Bryan sought feedback on whether vaccinations for work permit holders should continue to be mandatory. Responses from the floor, corroborated both by an online comment as well as a ‘show of hands’ indicated that attendees were strongly in favour of removing the requirement.
Listen to the full recording of the Chamber Labour Forum here: https://youtu.be/KaxeB1q2buk
Chamber Members met with Government representatives at the Labour Forum