The Finance Minister Ersilla De Lannoy in a statement had described the employees of the Tax office as "lazy and as a result their approach to work needs much to be desired."
Reed and Duncan apparently had "a heated exchange of words" at the beginning of the meeting because according to Reed, the Minister was sent to represent St. Maarten at the Federal level and he contended that all "politics are local." Response to Reed Duncan said that as the Minister of Internal Affairs, he cannot go outside of the scope of his ministry since he cannot dictate to the Minister of Finance. He said my job is not to tell another Minister how to do his job and what to say.
Reed stressed that Duncan has two Senators who are his bosses and as a result he could have challenged the situation through them and let them deal with the Minister of Finance. The union leader felt that Duncan was not proactive enough on the issues at hand.
Reed added that a "whole tongue lashing" that the Minister gave to members of his organization on St. Maarten, she would have never had done so in Curacao since her votes comes from that island, he said. He felt that the Minister has no regard for the people of St. Maarten.
He said that the insults meted out to his members by the Minister of Finance "lives the life of its own," especially when dealing with a sensitive area such as the tax office. He indicated that in cases such as these some members of the community will believe her and some may not.
Furthermore the matter could be counterproductive thus he informed Duncan that he was not at all happy with the situation. Reed said his intentions are to take the Minister to court since he already made contact with an attorney at law.
Reed said when the Minister was notified of the legal procedures she acted out of order by attacking the entire staff of the tax office. He felt that the comments made by the Minister was unnecessary and could have been avoided.
The Union leader said that his members at the Tax Office on St. Maarten has been abused and is understaffed and even a copier that they had requested was refused. He added that he does not understand how the Minister of Finance could under these circumstances who work under these conditions decide that they are not producing and as a result it is not fair, said Reed.
