If what subsidised school boards and Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) say is correct and Government paid out vacation allowance to civil servants and public education teachers, concern expressed (see related story) in a joint letter to Minister of Education, Youth Affairs, Culture and Sports (EYCS) Rodolphe Samuel would seem justified. The authors even called the apparent move “unlawful” but are mostly interested in getting their members and employees respectively equal treatment.
Foundation Catholic Education SKOS, National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA), Methodist Agogic Centre (MAC), Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Education, Foundation Secondary Education SVOBE, Charlotte Brookson Academy (CBA) and Foundation for Protestant Christian Education SPCOBE were instructed to reduce benefits 12.5% along with the (semi-)governmental sector for St. Maarten to cut cost due to the COVID-19 crisis and receive related liquidity support from the Netherlands. To what extent each did and whether their subsidy was lowered accordingly is not entirely clear. Consultations as requested Friday at the latest in any case appear called for.
But it’s more than that. The “liability and risks” associated with the payment were also mentioned, along with acting against an austerity measure adopted by Parliament. Would, for example, approval by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT not be required?
Hopefully the Jacobs II Cabinet can provide some insight soon into this matter. It does –after all – involve taxpayer’s money and especially should there be a chance of repercussions, people have a right to know.
