The St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) said in Monday’s paper that the decision not to index the AOV/AWW pensions showed a complete lack of empathy towards the weakest group in society. As known, because the Department of Statistics switched to a different system of calculating the consumers price index (CPI) early last year it could not produce the usual comparative 12-month August-to-August inflation rate normally used for cost-of-living adjustments.
A task force comprising representatives of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour VSA, the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) and the Ministry of General Affairs was formed to seek a solution. They already had their first meeting and it was explained that should the outcome still be an indexation for the current year, this will occur retroactively to January 1.
However, SHTA is of the opinion that an upwards adjustment “of say 3 per cent” can be given and corrected after the 2018/2019 comparative price index (CPI) is published. It supports the St. Maarten Anti-Poverty Platform in this regard.
That’s all well and good, but the employer’s organisation did not mention another vulnerable group, namely those with the lowest legal salaries. After all, the decision not to index minimum wages for the second year in a row was reportedly taken since October 30 in consultation with various stakeholders, including SHTA.
It appears local business owners and their representatives find it quite easy to urge spending more public funds on these pensions through Social and Health Insurance SZV. However, when it comes to them adding to their own cost by hiking the pay of their least-earning employees a bit, things seem different.
As stated in this column before, the current state of the still-recovering tourism economy probably justifies leaving wages the way they are, to save jobs and prevent stagnation of the reconstruction process. On the other hand, that effectively reduces the people’s overall buying power, because the cost of living did go up.
The point is that the private sector too has a responsibility to look in the mirror and think about its own role as part of the community. Criticising government is one thing, but also ask yourself once in while “what have I done lately?”
