Richardson said negotiations began since 2001 but each time the process had to stall due to change in management.
Richardson said finally they were able to finalize negotiations with the present director Mr. Evertsz but the board of BZV was not able to say when it would be possible for the signing to take place.
Richardson said they were supposed to sign the long awaited CLA on March 14, but this he said could not take place due to the referendum in Curacao.
The ABVO representative said the union has been patient and they again gave the medical insurance more time but on Wednesday they were told by the Director that he does not know when the CLA could be signed.
This he said upset the union and its members and they were forced to down tools for most of the day on Thursday.
Richardson said ABVO delegation met with Mr. Davelaar in Curacao who said the signing would take place on June 25th. He said the union was also able to address other issues concerning the BZV employees. Those concerns he said relates to the merging of BZV and SVB in January 2009. Richardson said St. Maarten workers would be under the National Health Care Insurance this new program he said has to be executed by the AZV. The ABVO he said made sure they got a guarantee from Davelaar that the employees of BZV will not suffer any loss of income. He made clear that even though there has been a guarantee there is no protocol in place.
Richardson said after the meeting the workers of BZV St. Maarten returned to work by 2:30pm.