Philipsburg: --- The Democratic Party faction has raised several questions on the document presented to them on Monday with the amendments of the revised labour policy. Leader of the Democratic Party and former Commissioner of Labour Sarah Wescot Williams said the document was not prepared for the island council and even though it stated the Executive Council they still do not know if the document came from the Executive Council and who prepared it.
Wescot Williams said they do not know whom the document was intended for; furthermore, she wants to know when the executive council ratified the amendments and if these amendments were sanctioned by the tripartite committee. She said the committee as well as the labour commissioner met on Sunday afternoon where the amendments were discussed. “Was this document ratified on Sunday Evening?
The DP leader said she wants to know who stands to loose if the labour permit policy is transparent. She wants to know if persons no longer has to call on others for assistance maybe in exchange for money who are the ones that stand to loose.
Wescot Williams said the objectives of calling an island council meeting to discuss the labor policy were partly met on Monday during the Island Council meeting. She said the main objective for her faction was to have government come clean on the foreign labour policy. She said because her faction called a meeting to discuss the position of government they hastily called a meeting with tripartite committee on Sunday August 9 and there is no way the coalition government can make her faction or the public believe that the anonymous proposal which was presented to the island council on Monday is an official position of the executive council.
Wescot Williams said the document presented to them was rushed because of her faction insisted that government needed to come clean on the issue of the labour policy. The former labour commissioner said they are not convinced that the tripartite committee was consulted on the document presented to them. She felt the statements made by the current commissioner of labor who said that there is no tripartite committee is an insult to the members of the tripartite committee who have been working closely with government on labour matters. She said the executive council needs to prove that the proposal has indeed been adopted or ratified by the executive council and when did they adopt the document.
The executive council also has to prove that true consultations took place with the tripartite committee and that they are not ramming down something down the throats of these committee members. She said if this is left unchallenged then the members of that committee would be held responsible for the so-called amendments.
Wescot Williams said her questions regarding the proposal are who drafted this proposal and for whom is it meant?
Where are the decisions taken by the tripartite committee on August 7th and 9th?
Who else has been consulted on this “proposal”? In addition, what is the budgetary impact of the changes to the work permit policy?