Port board remains silent amid allegations of witch hunt and boycott

(CMR) The Port Authority of the Cayman Islands continues to struggle with numerous organizational issues as more information leaks out to Cayman Marl Road almost daily. With all eyes on the port, the board of directors has resorted to attempting to silence staff and initiative a “witch hunt against Elizbeth “Beth McField”.

In the past week, a crane driver has resigned as further allegations emerged of bullying, racism and port workers being forced to come to work COVID-19 positive in breach of the government's quarantine regulations at the time.

On Saturday's night shift, there was a boycott that required the port management to pull in the day crew to fill the gaps. CMR has been informed it was in support of the board bringing back Beth McField as acting port director. The port has been in turmoil after port employees shared that they were contacted via text messages by Minister Bernie Bush to give their support to Brevon Elliott who was slated to replace McField as acting port director.

This is not the first time that such allegations of interference have been levied against the minister after Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Paul Walker lodged a complaint against Bush for informing fire officers that the next CFO would be Brevon Elliott. The comments were made before the open recruitment process was underway and it was alleged that his comments were unduly prejudicial and appeared to venture into civil service employment matters – which would run afoul of the law.

Brevon Elliott was not the successful candidate for the top position in the fire service.

It has since been alleged that Bush was pushing for the unsuccessful Elliott to step into the acting port director role with a view to a permanent placement in due course.

However, the plans were derailed after CMR revealed Elliott's acceptance of the move from the fire service to the port. Although he was slated to start work on Monday, March 28 sources indicated that the legal process to obtain a secondment was not followed and key civil servants were not informed of this decision.

One person made this keen observation:

“This is not how the civil service works. If he wanted to leave his critical role as deputy of aerodrome he would have to return and apply to the port. However, he cannot simply make a move on the bases of a “secondment” that has not been properly vetted and approved by the respective ministry, chief officers and his direct superiors.”

Despite these allegations, Minister Bush has shared with other media that he had no knowledge of the developments with Elliott and made no calls to the port workers.

Ports workers have encouraged a full investigation and noted that technically it may have been a WhatsApp message that was sent asking them to call him and investigators should explore that possibility.

With all of the friction port workers and their family members are crying foul stating that some PACT government members campaigned that the port issues would no longer be swept under the rug. They allege that Bush even went as far as telling them to stand up against bullying and “go and lick that white man the F*** down” – referring to the deputy director's behavior towards the workforce.

The board appears prepared to turn a blind eye to all of these issues and have made no statement on the ongoing crises. Instead, they appointed Dale Christian to act for a number of weeks after the port had no director on Friday. They have also called meetings with the managers seeks to discredit McField by trying to find evidence that her temporary hirings were unlawful.

Ironically, during TCHT podcast Minister Bryan shared it was her responsibility to fill the significant gaps labor that exist at the port. CMR understands that most key positions are being held by persons “acting” and not permanent appointments.

McField did not hire any permanent workers but instead cut costs by eliminating temporary agencies which allowed the port to save 50% of those contracts and herself hired temp workers to assist in the most urgent areas. Staff have shared that they are now being asked if these temporary employees were drug tested and vetted in other ways despite there being no legal requirement to do so.