Representatives of trade unions in St. Maarten were out in full force.
PHILIPSBURG--The Members of the Committee Civil Servants Union (CCSU) announced on Monday that they are not in agreement with the draft pension reform legislation for civil servants.
CCSU said in a press release no consensus had been reached between CCSU and government as to the way forward after the draft pension reform legislation had been sent back to the Central Committee of Parliament. “The Members have made this known to government and to all three Ministers of General Affairs that have held the office in the last six months,” the release said.
In 2016, outside the body GOA/CCSU, the unions, the representatives of the government and General Pension Fund of St. Maarten (“Algemeen Pensioenfonds St. Maarten (APS)”) jointly signed a covenant that expressed parties’ intention to jointly work on new pension legislation for civil servants. This was done under the assumption that the APS fund would no longer be sustainable if reforms to the legislation were not implemented, CCSU said.
Late 2018, under assurances from government that all agreements established in the workgroup had been incorporated in the draft legislation, CCSU members signed a letter approving the draft pension reform legislation, despite members not having reviewed the contents of the draft because they had been constantly discouraged from doing so as it would be too technical for members to understand, the release said.
It is only during the Central Committee meetings in Parliament that the members of CCSU and by extension their union members discovered that the draft legislation being presented did not properly incorporate their concerns, and that by implementation other critical issues arose for which no remedy was provided for, CCSU said.
In the public meeting of May 23, 2019, Parliament instructed the then Minister of General Affairs to go back to the platform of the CCSU and seek consensus as to a new way forward based on the concerns of both the unions and Parliament. As a result, a Consultation meeting was held on July 5, 2019, between representatives of the Minister of General Affairs and the members of CCSU. Unfortunately, no consensus could be reached as to how to proceed.
A report of the consultation meeting and a proposed way forward were submitted by CCSU on Friday, August 30, 2019, and carbon copies of said documents were sent to the Secretary-General of General Affairs and the Head of the Department of Personnel. These documents were also sent to the Caretaker Minister of General Affairs. “Since then, several requests for a response to the letter submitted on August 30, 2019, and or a meeting to discuss the matter, have been sent to the two former and current Ministers of General Affairs,” CCSU said.
“It is for this reason that the members of CCSU were taken aback by statements made in the media by APS about the position of the CCSU on this matter and also statements made on the floor of Parliament in the public meeting of Thursday, January 23,” the release said. During this meeting, reference was made to a recap of the meeting that was not taken from the report of the consultation meeting submitted by CCSU. More importantly, the recap was not shared with CCSU before the meeting and contained many inaccuracies.
The members of CCSU urge both the government of St. Maarten and APS to refrain from sharing any inaccurate information on the position of CCSU to Parliament, civil servants or the general public. The members remain firm in their resolve that they are not in agreement with the current draft pension reform legislation based on the negative effects it would have on civil servants and their members when implemented and executed.
