PHILIPSBURG--President of the St. Maarten Communications Union (SMCU) Ludson Evers and Director of Nieuwe Post Nederlandse Antillen (NPNA) Franklin Sluis re-iterated several points which they have been making over the past few weeks, buoyed by the fact that they have exhausted nearly all efforts to reach to a timely transfer of postal services from NPNA to Postal Services of St. Maarten (PSS).
Supported by Post Office employees, who are in agreement with the draft transfer protocol, Evers and Sluis described PSS as non-communicative and playing stalling tactics for unknown reasons. They confirmed that PSS recently received the information it had been waiting for regarding the position of employees but no communication has been received from PSS.
Moreover, Evers and Sluis explained that the draft transfer protocol that was signed between NPNA and SMCU was on the table for more than a year before it was signed with minor changes. The fact that it was signed by NPNA and SMCU without PSS, the argued, should not be a reason for PSS not to meet and simply indicate what it does not like in the draft protocol if this is the case.
While PSS is the lone remaining party to signal its agreement on the draft protocol, NPNA will not deviate from the October 9, 2011 deadline when it will end all "concession related" postal services currently executed on St. Maarten.
When asked if NPNA would be in a position to continue executing postal services past the October 9, deadline, Sluis said such a situation would have to be a "win-win" situation for both sides. For NPNA specifically, he continued, the company would not enter any arrangement that would put it in a negative financial situation as it found itself in for the first 6 months of 2011.
He explained that NPNA, by executing postal services on St. Maarten, lost some NAf. 700,000 in the first half of 2011. Considering that NPNA does not hold the concession for postal services (selling stamps etc), Sluis said NPNA will only consider "a serious proposal" from St. Maarten/PSS to continues postal services once certain conditions could be agreed upon.
In an effort to be transparent, Sluis and Evers made all communication with PSS and Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams available to the media on Wednesday. Sluis added that he did not know what Wescot-Williams meant when she said the matter will be taken to a political level on Cura�ao, "but the Minister, the board of NPNA, everyone has the same communications we are giving you here today. So the Minister knows."
Concerning Wescot-William's statement that NPNA would be competing with PSS on St. Maarten for services such as Money Gram and E-Zone, Sluis said St. Maarten is an open market where a company like WIB is also doing Money Gram services. He said PSS need only be creative in its thinking to compete on the market.
The draft protocol emphasizes that the NPNA and the SMCU reached an agreement premised on parts of a letter written by Prime Minister Sarah Wescott-Williams on September 1, 2011 to NPNA. In said letter, the PM informed NPNA that agreement should be reached with the SMCU and that the personnel should undergo a smooth transition taking into account established laws.
"Which is exactly what we did," Evers said. On the fact that the SMCU and NPNA affixed their signatures to the protocol prior to discussions with PSS, Sluis explained that this was the only certifiable way they could show to PSS that the union and NPNA had reached an agreement as suggested by the Prime Minister.
NPNA has been executing postal services under a concession granted by the Netherlands Antilles, which automatically expired with the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles and the institution of Country St. Maarten on October 10, 2010. On October 8, 2010 the Government of St. Maarten decided not to extend the concession of NPNA, but to issue a new concession to PSS (Postal Services of St. Maarten) instead, a company fully owned by the Country of St. Maarten.
As of the date of October 10, 2010, the Government of St. Maarten (through PSS) has full responsibility to provide the postal service on St. Maarten. Despite the fact that NPNA no longer had the concession for postal services, NPNA continued to provide these services to avoid the community of St. Maarten being isolated from the world as of the date of October 10, 2010.
"During a transition period of one year, the new concession holder (PSS) would make the necessary arrangements and prepare itself to effectively take over the responsibilities for the execution of postal services on St. Maarten. The transition period will conclude on October 9, 2011, on which date the transfer will be effectuated," Sluis said.
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