Calls on Raphael Boasman to vacate his seat as Chairman of the Supervisory Board since he is operating in Conflict of Interest.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Communication Union (SMCU) headed by Ludson Evers along with his other board members told reporters at a press conference held on Wednesday that he would like for the Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs (Shareholder representative of TELEM) and other entities they contacted to deal with an illegal situation that TELEM another government owned company has engaged in. Evers said that TELEM just recently hired eight Surinamese to work on a large project which they did not put on bid, further to that the union said that the foreign workers that were brought in to work on fiber optic cable in the Beacon Hill area do not have working documents to work on St. Maarten. Evers further explained that during the restructuring of the company they have an agreement with TELEM which states that all employees who became redundant due to restructuring will be given first preference to work on projects for TELEM should they open a company of their own. He said the foreign workers were brought in mid-February 2015 and as soon as they were brought in one of the former workers who has his own company wrote a letter to the Prime Minister (Shareholder) representative informing him about the illegalities at the government owned company. He said contractor Alberto Arrindell wrote the Prime Minister on February 17th 2015 and on February 23rd 2015 TELEM management responded to the letter written to the Prime Minister but the reasons given by TELEM is not acceptable to the union. In the letter from TELEM they said that the team from Suriname is cheaper to work with than the ones they approached locally. Further they stated that this particular team (company) has skilled professionals, and they are able to transfer knowledge to TELEM's technical staff. Consideration was given that some 85 businesses required fiber optic connections and there is a lack of manpower and internal resources. Evers said that the union cannot accept any of the reasons given by TELEM to outsource a huge job without putting it on bid, secondly the contractors that became redundant due to restructuring have more than enough knowledge to execute the project. Furthermore, he said that there are other workers that could work with the local companies that are registered on St. Maarten and are paying their taxes and if there is still need for more manpower then St. Maarten has enough young men that are currently unemployed. Evers said Alberto Arrindell responded to the Prime Minister on February 23rd 2015 informing him of the contents of the letter he received from TELEM and he also rebutted the explanations given, one of which includes the cost of maintaining these foreign workers that are working on St. Maarten illegally. Besides that the SMCU has dispatched a number of letters, one to the immigration department, one to the labor department, one to the inspectorate of labor and they are also requesting to meet with the Prime Minister to further discuss the matter.
RAPHAEL BOASMAN acting in Conflict of Interest
Evers said that the union has lost confidence in the supervisory board mainly because the chairman of the board Raphael Boasman should vacate his seat on TELEM supervisory board simply because he has been acting in conflict of interest. "Boasman is the head of the Department of Labor, he is the mediator at the Labor Department and is sitting as chairman on TELEM supervisory board. "This has been going on since 2009 and the SMCU has been hammering on this issue for several years but no one took us on. However, Boasman admitted to the Ombudsman of St. Maarten that he is indeed acting in conflict of interest and could not mediate in any labor dispute at TELEM since he is the chairman of the Supervisory Board." A complaint was filed with the Ombudsman who completed her report on February 12th 2015. Boasman's contract as mediator for the Department of Labor will end on June 5th 2015.
Evers and his other board members said that they wrote several letters to the former shareholder representative former Prime Minister and now Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams and she never responded to their letters. He said that they even discussed the matter with the former Minister of Labor now Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever and he too did nothing.
Evers said that he is of the opinion that the entire supervisory board of TELEM should leave and new persons should come on board because most of the persons on the board have been there for ten years or less. Besides that he said that since the company has no CEO the management team does what they want. Evers alleged that the management of TELEM has been bribing the members of the Supervisory Board since they are travelling around the world at the expense of the company. Asked if he has proof of his allegations Evers said there are enough proof to back up what he saying. He said one must know that the members of the supervisory board has nothing to do with the daily operations of the company yet they are travelling on behalf of the government owned company to conduct business.
Click here to view letters and Ombudsman report on TELEM.
