The tribute paid to employees of the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) after the morning shift change by units maintaining law and order was both well-deserved and fitting. Anybody complaining about being locked down should remember the valiant job medical practitioners are doing at no small risk to their own health and potentially that of their loved ones during this coronavirus pandemic.
Many of them would perhaps have loved being safe at home, were it not for a sense of duty, responsibility and commitment to their noble profession. The same could to a considerable extent be said about the police, marechaussees and marines who were there to honour them,
But as the health care fight against COVID-19 continues, the battle with the impact of this unprecedented socioeconomic crisis is only beginning, also locally. Windward Islands Civil Servants Union/Private Sector Union (WICSU/PSU) backed the St. Maarten Support Resilience Plan (SSRP) that was prepared in consultation with stakeholders, the Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Today’s story about a leaked internal document from the latter’s Western Hemisphere Department to management confirms exactly why government’s stimulus package is so badly needed. Even if the Dutch Caribbean countries get the full amounts requested in loans they would be facing a difficult fiscal prospect and high debt ratio, which is why their members on the committees for financial supervision argued for making at least part of the assistance a grant.
For the time being there is no guarantee of either, so a start must be made with the liquidity support now received to prevent widespread business closures and mass layoffs by the end of April. Executing the SSRP for one of the three months alone would at least give the private sector and its workers some temporary breathing space.
The endorsement by WICSU/PSU is welcome considering certain suggestions as though employers’ organisations and the biggest hospitality industry union would be taking advantage of the situation. Keeping their members going is just as important to the public sector.
