Dismissal request still on table, Govt. may grant 1.2 mil transfer tax delay�
PHILIPSBURG--Two and a half weeks after Simpson Bay Resort (former Pelican Resort) closed its doors, parties signed an agreement for its reopening in a maximum of 10 days with all 182 workers in board.
The dismissal request for a minimum of 37 and maximum of 50 workers is, however, still on the table and the Labour Department will have to make a decision on this request.
Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams told reporters at the signing ceremony that government will "favourably consider" granting the resort its request for a delay in the payment of its US $1.2 million transfer tax. The Workers Institute for Organised Labour (WIFOL) has distanced itself from this clause in the agreement.
A group of workers gathered outside the Government Administration Building and a group sat in the public gallery at Dr. A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall to witness the signing. Affixing their signatures to the agreement were Wescot-Williams, WIFOL President Theophilus Thompson and a shop steward and Simpson Bay Resort Management Company (SBMC) attorney Jairo Bloem, who said it was more than likely that the resort would open in fewer than 10 days.
Reporters were told that Gerrit van Giffen, the attorney representing the Resort's timeshare owners, will also ask the court to withdraw its litigation against the Resort in lieu of the pending reopening.
Wescot-Williams, who commended all the parties involved in reaching the agreement, said the leading up to the signing had been a long process. She said each day an agreement was not reached was another day that the resort's doors remained closed.
She outlined her involvement in the process to date, mentioning meetings such as the one held with the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) and the St. Maarten Timeshare Association on February 14, and her briefing with the Council of Ministers on February 15.
Elaborating on the issue of the transfer tax delay, she said government realised that the reopening of the resort "is of vital importance" for many stakeholders and "in our opinion the entire country St. Maarten.
"Government acknowledges that by reopening the resort, management is acting in the best interest of many stakeholders and thereby seriously attributing to the social economic wellbeing of St. Maarten. Government understands the request for the tax exemption... and management's interest in obtaining a decision in this matter expeditiously. Government looks favourably on this request and indicates that any decision taken to this respect must fit within the constraints of the existing legislation."
She said the reopening of the resort with the workers on board was very important. Reading from one of the clauses, she said government "will indemnify the laid off workers against any claims resulting from any possible judgement of the court of appeal or supreme court by which it would become evident that the workers have received monies not due to them by the Simpson Bay Resort Management Company. The Simpson Bay Resort Management Company must substantiate that indeed it made the payments."
The Prime Minister said government had looked at all of the issues at stake in the matter, such as at the resort's business licenses and the transfer tax request, and had researched whether it had been feasible for government to "join" a petition to the court or to have its own petition. She said too that she had been "flooded' with e-mails from timeshare owners and made clear that she did not own property at the resort, as was being circulated.
Should have not been closed
Describing the day as remarkable and commending the workers for showing "good faith," Thompson said it was the union's opinion that the resort "should have not been closed at all. For us there was no reason to shut out the workers and then in turn shut out the homeowners."
He said the union's position from day one was confirmed in a judgement, which, he said, had been the basis of the agreement signed on Tuesday. The union had looked beyond its membership in this issue. "Whenever WIFOL makes a decision, it is not just WIFOL making a decision about the workers on the job, but we look at the further interest of the dependents of the workers, as we did for this case. That was our priority."
He said the union's responsibility went beyond the work place. "WIFOL is the only organisation in St. Maarten with a full fledged institute that trains workers to upgrade their skills and to acquire new skills," he added. "The union also partners with government to ensure that school dropouts find a place in the industry."
Based on the union's belief that business, government and labour must at all times work in harmony, Thompson said the union looked forward for the resort to continue to be "a dynamic and important factor" in the development of St. Maarten's economy, especially in the areas of service and tourism.
"Disappointed, yes we were on the closure and the lockout, but I think we are mature enough to look beyond that and we are ready and willing as a partner to move forward, so that the resort can develop and express its true potential as a contributor to the economy of St. Maarten, whereby job security and the sustainable growth and development of our economy [can] be a priority that we can join together and accomplish."
Temporary solution
Bloem, who described the agreement as a "temporary solution," said an accord would not have been reached without the "leading role" of Wescot-Williams and the team she set up to handle the negotiations.
He said all parties compromised to reach the agreement. "It is a temporary solution in light of the results of further litigation," Bloem said, adding that his client is "extremely joyful" to reopen the resort as soon as possible.
The financial figures of the old company - Pelican Resort Club ? will be published on its Website. He invites the public to look at it and to "be appraised on the factual and the real figures."
He said the resort required a continued and structural investment from the new owner and to do this "we must see on the overall that we will be able to make ends meet in a responsible matter.
"When one wants everything, it becomes difficult to attain something. But as has happened here, where parties showed, in the spirit of compromise, a willingness to get together to come to a solution that was good for the greater, then we can move forward and we believe that we have that right now."
His statements that the approximately 100 employees of the tenants had been more affected than the WIFOL members drew displeased grumbles from the workers in the public gallery.
He said there were numerous challenges facing the resort and that these would be resolved going forward to sustain the operations in an economical viable way.
WIFOL attorney Wim van Sambeek told this newspaper after the signing that statements by Bloem regarding the resort's dire financial straits were "not very credible, given the fact that Royal Resorts had been managing the resort for the last 13 years and was very willing to take ownership over through an affiliate company.
"If Royal Resorts would show that the previous owner had debts, than this must have been caused by Royal Resorts. Royal Resorts was the resort manager who was fully in control of all payments made, including their own management fees and management expenses. Do you think a lot of money is left if you let someone else hold your wallet and authorize that person to his expenses out of your wallet? Well, Royal Resorts held the wallet of the tenants for 13 years and now say that it is empty."
He said the union hoped that parties would work in harmony again in the near future and that it would be decided to withdraw the appeals procedure. "But it is up to Royal Resorts to make that step. By doing so this temporary solution will become a definite one and so help the labour peace to return."
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