By James M Bodden III

With the introduction of an official trade school and regulated trade unions, Cayman’s unemployment and lack of training problem could be essentially erased. Our need for a trade school is overwhelming. Our Caymanian people lack sufficient skills to compete in the country’s labour market.

Our education system is overtaxed at best and in shambles at worst. The Cayman Islands government needs to nurture our young people to ensure they have an opportunity once they begin their private lives. By creating a trade school, we will be giving the children another avenue to pursue towards their future. Cheap labour is continually imported with a 20 percent unemployment rate for the ages of 15-19.

With a trade school, we could ensure that every child would have a career and trade to utilise. A carpenter is just as important as a banker. A truck driver is just as important as a lawyer.

To provide our young people with these necessities before they enter the employment market would grant them the tools to establish an economic stepping stone within our socio-economic structure.

Conjoining agreements between the trade school and the appropriate trade unions would have to be arranged to ensure that when a person graduates, they are already in a union and seeking employment. Conjoining agreements between the trade unions and private business would also have to be established to ensure that union members receive sufficient jobs. Much of this could be handled by the Department of Employment Relations (DER).

Trade unions are created with the intent to ensure the protection of worker’s rights (safe working conditions, proper pay, healthcare, etc.).

Our government could sponsor the creation of trade unions as per the relevant categories, such as fisherman, cook, labourer, tile layer, cement worker, etc… With the creation of the individual unions, there would be the creation of a trade union advisory (TUA) to oversee the management and activities of each union.

When the private business sector has open employment opportunities or where on a hiring drive they would be required to send the information and brief to the TUA. The TUA would then network with the relevant unions to fill jobs. This employment initiative would ensure that there is more than sufficient employment and economic inclusion within the Cayman Islands.

To become a member of each union would require a nominal fee (CI$10 for instance) and would have annual fees (each union would have its own fee schedule). Junior membership (below 18 years of age) would also be possible, being automatic and free with registration. All fees would be waived until the age of eighteen, being that employment is found. The unions would also be utilised for government projects.

The unions would receive contracts for government projects and would also be the first labour pool utilised when government in need of extra labour for individual projects. This too would be orchestrated and managed through the TUA and DER. Each project would require an individual representative contract, whether it be private or public, the TUA would be required to create these as per the individual or involved unions. Essentially, this system would make the unions the first labour pool to be contacted within the economy.

For this to be successful there would have to be a trade school for the purpose of training individuals with the necessary and sufficient skills for the desired trade. For this to be properly done, each child would receive a vetting process (done by a relevant guidance counselor or academic advisor) where it would be ascertained as to what field or trade was desired by the student.

With that completed there would be automatic registration into the relevant Union or Association. Each union and association would have representatives whose responsibility would be to coordinate with the pledging members and verse them on the purpose and workings of the associations and unions.

It goes without saying that more educated Caymanians mean more economically empowered Caymanians and more financially stable Caymanians mean a stronger, more versatile and vibrant economy for the Cayman Islands.

It has been shown that our native labour supply are being out-maneuvered and cast to the side for cheaper transient labour. Transient labour, in the majority of cases, does not hold its financial base within the Cayman Islands. This is simply to show that relying on foreign labour to revitalise our economy is short sighted and unrealistic.

The more financially prosperous and strengthened Caymanians, the better place Cayman will be. Demand will go up with the increase of disposable income and supply will adjust to fill the demand, the economy will elevate with the increase of consumption and trade.

The only way to properly initiate and substantiate this is for the government’s creation of a trade school and trade unions. This will grant us the network to ensure labour rights and protection, such things as a minimum wage, healthcare, proper employment, pension, etc., will be afterthoughts because there will be surety that these things are duly guaranteed.

There is more to this than just the financial and economic implications. Caymanians were bred on hard work. Often if an individual cannot find employment they are relegated as lazy and second class, often it is not their fault. If they had been shown better they would have known, but how can we blame those who were not given the tools to understand, when they do not understand.

It is true that this responsibility falls at the parents’ feet, but it is also upon society to help themselves and each other because societies individual pains can cause conjunctive societal repercussions (poverty=crime, crime=societal upheaval, and societal upheaval=collapse).

It’s the responsibility of the Cayman Islands to ensure that its people are taken care of; not just because it is economically sensible, but because it is morally and spiritually righteous. Which path has been chosen? Which path have you chosen?