~ Meyers threatens to shut down NPNA ~
PHILIPSBURG--Postal workers, their union and members of their management team gathered at the Government Administration Building on Thursday to protest the year-long transition stalemate between St. Maarten and their current employer Nieuwe Post Nederlandse Antillen (NPNA).
The workers and their representatives said they had taken action to obtain one answer: What will happen to them on Monday, October 10, when NPNA will cease executing all postal activities on St. Maarten?
While the workers are concerned about their position, NPNA's ability to carry out its plan to open up separate facilities here to execute specific services was placed in doubt when Minister of Economic Affairs Franklin Meyers disclosed that it had not requested a business licence to set up shop in St. Maarten and had not been granted a concession by Bureau Telecommunication and Post St. Maarten to execute the services it is targeting.
NPNA has rented the former Movies I & II building on the Pondfill to carry out its MoneyGram and E-Zone (international mailbox) services. Owner of the building Michael Ferrier confirmed that NPNA General Managing Director Franklin Sluis had signed the lease agreement on behalf of NPNA.
However, Minister Meyers explained that St. Maarten is now a country and entities such as NPNA have to go through the regular channels if they want to operate separately here.
"I can say it straight: If they go ahead and open next week, they will be closed down. Minister [of Transport and Regional Planning Charles] Cooper refers to St. Maarten's representation on boards as spies from within, so I for one will not let them come here and ram anything down our throats," Meyers told The Daily Herald last night.
Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams also was adamant on Wednesday that St. Maarten did not agree with NPNA providing those revenue-generating services in St. Maarten, leaving Postal Services St. Maarten (PSS) with the less-profitable postal services.
In response Sluis contended that St. Maarten and PSS, in a free market, could be creative and compete under normal business practices.
The workers and their union representatives said they had not been informed about progress, if any, regarding their transition from NPNA to PSS. Carrying placards and wearing shirts with protest messages, the workers said all they wanted was to be informed "just like how the Prime Minister is informing the media. Nobody has called us to a meeting."
St. Maarten Communications Union (SMCU) President Ludson Evers said the workers and the union want to know whether PSS would be ready to take over the employees from NPNA on Monday, October. "If yes, say so; if not, say so," he said. "St. Maarten has to take up its responsibility. That's why we are here. Are you ready? Will you take over employees? When and how many? They are not saying anything," Evers said.
The workers gathered outside the Government Administration Building early on Thursday to "catch" Wescot-Williams as she arrived at the building. When she arrived, she was escorted in by her security detail.
The workers also met with Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever who said he wanted to obtain an update on the situation "since as Minister in charge of labour he could not sit by and do nothing," said Evers. "He said he would raise the issue in the Council of Ministers meeting during the course of the day."
Wescot-Williams also met with Sluis on Thursday to discuss a possible solution, but no concrete way forward had been identified up to Thursday evening. The meeting will reconvene today at 10:00am while postal workers said they would continue their action until the situation was resolved.
Meanwhile, NPNA has ceased all activity at the Post Office.
"It is already affecting the community. SZV brought mail to the office and had to be turned back, the same for TelEm. Your bills cannot reach your home. Any letter from the banks or government cannot reach your home. Nobody can send international packages," Evers said.
"I think the administration (government) does understand the impact, but they don't care. If they did care, today we wouldn't be standing here. We would be negotiating instead of fighting. Of course there are points we will not agree upon, but that's why you have negotiations," Evers added.
Sluis explained on Wednesday that while NPNA was willing to help St. Maarten, agreements must be in place prior to any execution of any transition plan, including the employee transfer protocol. He explained that NPNA had presented PSS with an action plan that included, among other things, what investments St. Maarten would have to make in setting up its service, while NPNA would assist with the setting-up of the finance, IT and other departments of PSS.
Sluis also said St. Maarten would have to either cover the shortfall NPNA would incur by providing postal services until December or make its own investments for the proper setting up of PSS.
He said NPNA would assist St. Maarten if either one of the options mentioned were agreed on.
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