Dear Editor,
I just want to take this opportunity to address for a while this abusive situation between employers and their employees, that has become a regular ongoing issue here on St. Maarten, especially since the beginning of COVID-19.
Dear editor many people, not only here, but all over the world are facing and going through some serious financial times. While we are seeing many people who are still fortunate to have a job, or buy a new brand car, and do their regular shopping for themselves and their families, there are also many out there who have lost their job, since the outbreak of this pandemic, and are in dire need of financial help, and food. Today we can hear the outcry of the various employees now seeking their rights because many employers have also found it fit to take advantage of their employees who have worked hard and faithful, some of them for even many years.
Beside the loss of loved ones that this pandemic has caused since it started in 2019, it has also brought misery, mental issues, hopelessness, and family problems, as well as court cases for many others seeking their rights.
Dear editor, I stand in solidarity with those employees who are still fighting their battle against their employers, who show no mercy and wilfully fail to pay out their workers in a fair and just manner. These employees have to now go to court along with their unions, to seek justice for the injustice that has been done to them.
Dear editor, this is an ongoing cry here among workers on this little island we call St. Maarten, where the words “justice” or “righteousness” seem to be forgotten or unknown, especially for many employers who underpay their workers, abuse their rights, and take advantage of them. These employers, during the pre-pandemic good times, have made their profits, and filled their pockets.
They did not come to this island for the sunshine, or the beautiful beaches, but to do business and make money, because St. Maarten is an island where not much honour is given to worker’s rights. Furthermore, you are free to trample underfoot the laws of the land, treat the workers as you want, because the labour laws are not respected anyway, and even go as far as disrespecting the very verdict of the judge to pay out their workers, even if they win their case.
Yes, as always, government officials remain silent about these issues, so the workers or the poor man continues to suffer the consequences. So, it’s like saying to all residents as well as foreign employers, “Live as you want, hire and fire as you want, respect or, to your own decision, disrespect our labour laws and the judges’ verdicts as you want, because the people of this little friendly island are nothing else but a bunch of slaves and as a matter of fact, we the employers are the “shadow government,” behind your local government.” This is St. Maarten “the friendly land of the free”.
Dear editor, whenever this island receives money or loans as financial aid from the Dutch, account must be given for every penny that was or would be spent. Yes, they may be blond, with blue eyes, or fair-skinned, but I am sorry, they are not our “Father Christmas.” There must be a feed-back or nothing else will be given.
What I then, dear editor, don’t understand is why do these employers receive financial aid from government for their workers, and there are continual complaints from these employees that no money, or the right amount of money, was given to them? Don’t these employers have to give a feedback as to who all received, and how much they received, to our good Minister of Finance?
Dear editor, I rest my case. I do wish these unpaid employees much success in their struggle for their rights, against these mighty employers, and to keep on fighting for justice and righteousness. Your families are depending on you.
A concerned citizen
Name withheld at author’s request.
