~UP to give Minister ultimatum to call Tripartite Committee meeting~
PHILIPSBURG--A group of placard-bearing Simpson Bay Resort and Marina (former Pelican Resort) workers protested outside the Parliament House and the Government Administration Building at different times on Tuesday, while representatives of their union met separately with Members of Parliament (MPs) and Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever.
The workers, who sometimes sang in unison, carried placards which read, "Murder of people: 182 victims, MP Jules James;" "SXM open your eyes, today Pelican, tomorrow???;" "We want our jobs back;" "Justice for all" and "Salary is under US $1,000 per month and they say it's too much."
The workers stood outside the Parliament House for a portion of the morning, while the Workers Institute for Organised Labour (WIFOL) and representatives of three other unions under the Windward Islands Chamber of Labour Unions umbrella, the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA), Small Business Development Foundation (SBDF) and the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce met with representatives of the United People's (UP) Party. UP leader MP Romain Laville had requested the meeting.
UP MP Jules James, who is also General Manager of the Simpson Bay Resort Management Company (SBRMC), was absent. Laville told reporters later that he had received an e-mail from James saying that he would be off island and unable to attend.
The workers moved to the Government Administration building in the afternoon, when WIFOL President Theophilus Thompson was meeting with Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever. Unlike the recently held Parliament Meeting on the Simpson Bay Resort matter, where workers had been furious and almost attacked two MPs (James and Roy Marlin of the Democratic Party), Tuesday's demonstration was peaceful. The workers were, however, firm in their positions that they were fighting for their rights and to get their job back with the full backing of the unions in St. Maarten.
Thompson had told reporters earlier in the day that he would be seeking a commitment from De Weever to "promptly" address and bring about a solution to the Simpson Bay Resort matter and, among other things, the non-functioning of the Labour Department.
"There is no way that we will continue to accept this from the perspective where you have employees being sent home without the proper procedure being followed. It's only because of the court cases that we haven't done differently. But if this Minister doesn't make a decision, then we will have no other choice but to send the workers back on the job, and they might have to stay there until they receive some kind of proper notification from management," Thompson said.
The union president, who described the meeting with the UP MPs as frank and open, said the union had raised a number of issues. He said the labour sector got a chance to vent its frustrations, while the businesses sector had expressed its desire to work with labour and government.
He said, above all, the union wants Parliament to enact legislation to protect workers and their rights. "The current climate on the island was felt [in the meeting ed.], with the trade unions expressing total lack of confidence in the politicians and the parliamentarians for not really portraying what the new St. Maarten should be looking like," Thompson told reporters after the meeting with the MPs.
He said under the former Netherlands Antilles constellation, where some tasks fell under the former central government, certain labour issues would have been resolved more proactively. Under the current system, however, Thompson said a "wait and see" attitude is adopted.
He said government needed to be more proactive in addressing issues that develop. The issues raised by the unions include the labour policy as it pertains to employment of local and immigrant workers, the non-functioning of the Tripartite Committee, working conditions and social issues. Thompson said the discussions with the UP are likely to continue.
UP's position
After listening to the social partners, UP Leader Romain Laville said his party would be sending a letter to Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever, expressing the party's concerns about the issues raised by the unions and business representatives.
He said the party will advise the Minister to work towards getting the Tripartite Committee up and running, as this was a common concern across the board. UP, he added, will be giving the Minister an ultimatum within which to call the first meeting of the Tripartite Committee, but he said the duration of the ultimatum will be decided on during a meeting with the UP faction.
He said parties at the meeting said the chairperson of the Tripartite Committee should be rotated on a regular basis and should be an independent person. "We will let the Minister know that these are the issues to deal with," Laville said.
The UP leader said Tuesday's meeting was a "down payment" to the workers of St. Maarten and meant to give them hope that the time has come for issues affecting them to be addressed.
He said while he doesn't pretend to know it all, he thinks the time has come for everyone to put differences aside and address pressing issues affecting the labour market.
Asked how the party intended to address the involvement of its MP James in the Simpson Bay Resort matter, Laville said this was an ongoing issue that the party had met on in the past and will continue to meet on in the future. He said he is in constant contact with the WIFOL President to get updates on the resort matter as it develops. He said, too, that Parliament did not have the power to overrule a court decision.
He said it is incumbent of Parliament to address this matter from the perspective of preventing a recurrence of a similar situation via the law.
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