~ Tell of secret policies, say situation deteriorating ~
PHILIPSBURG--Five unions under the umbrella of Windward Islands Chamber of Labour Unions (WICLU) have criticised strongly what they see as the deteriorating labour situation in St. Maarten. One union has accused government of introducing "secret policies" in labour.
At a joint press conference on Wednesday the unions also slammed the absence of social dialogue and non-functioning of the tripartite committee and of the Department of Labour.
The unions also announced that they would be holding weekly press conferences to update the public about developing issues in the labour market.
Present at the press conference were Workers Institute for Organised Labour (WIFOL) and Association of Staff Employees of the Windward Islands (ASEWI) President Theophilus Thompson; Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) President Claire Elshot; St. Maarten Communications Union (SMCU) President Ludson Evers; and Windward Islands Health Care Union Association (WIHCUA) President Julian Lynch and Public Relations Officer (PRO) Gregory Arrindell.
New Windward Islands Civil Servants Union/Private Sector Union (WICSU/PSU) President Derie Leonard could not be present due to a conflicting appointment, said Elshot.
Thompson was critical of the functioning of the Department of Labour, saying this department was not functioning the way it should. He said the staff had not been trained on how to adapt to the new situation of Country St. Maarten and the department was still being run as in the Island Territory days.
He said there were workers in the department who were referring to employment agencies persons who went to register as unemployed. He said employment agencies were a major concern to unions.
Thompson also alleged that government had introduced a number of anti-labour anti-worker "secret policies" at the Labour Department that it had not made public.
One such policy, Thompson said, was the introduction of a number of regulations that he said made it practically impossible for anyone to obtain legal aid. He said any worker could have had access to legal assistance in the past to fight their employer if they had been unjustly dismissed or otherwise taken advantage of.
Thompson said government also was making it practically impossible for persons to come into consideration for social aid.
One of the common concerns of the unions was the absence of a functioning tripartite committee and social dialogue. Elshot and Thompson said social dialogue was an issue the unions had been raising for some time now.
Elshot said social dialogue among unions, government and labour in a tripartite setting was needed so that parties could give their input before decisions were taken by government. She said the advisory body to government GOA had been just "put aside." She said the absence of social dialogue could lead to unrest and people being dissatisfied.
Evers said the unions had submitted their representative for the tripartite committee to the Labour Minister three to four months ago, but no meeting had been called to date.
He said students and other persons returning to St. Maarten to work were being told that they were either over- or under-qualified for jobs, yet employment agencies seemed to be finding work for such persons. He said the message this was sending was that persons in search of jobs should go through an employment agency.
In Cura�ao, he said, there were persons attached to employment agencies who had been working for companies for as long as 20 years, which meant the positions they held were of a permanent nature. He said the system was being abused in Cura�ao and he saw St. Maarten headed down this route if the trend of using employment agencies continued. Unions, he added, were looking to put a stop to this situation.
Arrindell said employment agencies served one purpose: to have their temporary workers fill in for someone who was, for example, on maternity leave or out of her or his position temporarily.
He also was critical of the use of short term labour contracts, saying this practice was not legal. He said these agencies collected 35 per cent of the workers' salaries, a practice he called "scheming" and "scamming" of workers.
Several other concerns were raised by the unions.
Russell Brand Mervyn King Oscars Niclas Alexandersson Mark Bright Robert Schumann
No comments:
Post a Comment