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Life no bed of roses for many J'cans
published: Sunday | February 11, 2007 <DIV class=KonaBody OHv_r="true">
Andrew Smith, Photography Editor
An estimated 11,000 Jamaicans live and work in the <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Cayman </SPAN><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Islands</SPAN>, making up about 22 per cent of the country's population.
For Jamaicans at home, the perception is that those who make the <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">trip</SPAN> to the British colony with a booming economy are doing well. But for those who live there, especially those who work in ordinary jobs, such as store <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">clerks</SPAN> and domestic help, life is not likely to be a bed of roses, and sometimes it is living hell.
They often suffer discrimination and abuse, may receive lower-than-contracted wages; and, if they complain, sometimes face the threat of being thrown out of the country.
Authorities support employers
"It doesn't matter what's in writing," says Gordon Barlow, an Australian-born newspaper columnist and human rights <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">activist</SPAN> in an interview a fortnight ago. "All authorities are on the side of the employers and Caymanians."
Adds Captain Robert Hamaty, Kingston's honorary consul in the Cayman Islands: "There are also those prospective employers who give the Immi
Life no bed of roses for many J'cans
published: Sunday | February 11, 2007 <DIV class=KonaBody OHv_r="true">
Andrew Smith, Photography Editor
An estimated 11,000 Jamaicans live and work in the <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Cayman </SPAN><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Islands</SPAN>, making up about 22 per cent of the country's population.
For Jamaicans at home, the perception is that those who make the <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">trip</SPAN> to the British colony with a booming economy are doing well. But for those who live there, especially those who work in ordinary jobs, such as store <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">clerks</SPAN> and domestic help, life is not likely to be a bed of roses, and sometimes it is living hell.
They often suffer discrimination and abuse, may receive lower-than-contracted wages; and, if they complain, sometimes face the threat of being thrown out of the country.
Authorities support employers
"It doesn't matter what's in writing," says Gordon Barlow, an Australian-born newspaper columnist and human rights <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">activist</SPAN> in an interview a fortnight ago. "All authorities are on the side of the employers and Caymanians."
Adds Captain Robert Hamaty, Kingston's honorary consul in the Cayman Islands: "There are also those prospective employers who give the Immi