PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Labor Cornelius De Weever along with representatives of the Department of Labor and the Management of Sheriff Security signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Wednesday where Sheriff Security would train persons between the ages of 18 to 35 to become security officers.
Minister De Weever said that his Ministry noticed that security companies are the ones that are requesting a large number of work permits. He said in order to eliminate this trend his Ministry has decided to start a pilot project where they will encourage Dutch citizens to train for a period of three months before they are given a job at Sheriff Security. Minister De Weever said only Tuesday night he was asked what his Ministry is doing to create jobs because the unemployment rate among the youths is very high. He said his Ministry has other projects running and while Sheriff Security is the first company to sign such an MOU with government, the intention is to do the same with other security companies and businesses.
Persons that are qualified after screening will obtain financial assistance from the Department of Social Affairs as they participate in the training at Sheriff Security. After the training period the trainees will be employed by Sheriff Security. Their first contract will be for a period of one year. During that first year security workers will start off with the minimum wage, Marketing Manager of Sheriff Security Peter Gittens told reporters.
Nicoma Groenenveldt Hickensen, policy advisor of the labor department said that registration will take place at the department of labor for the project but she could not say exactly when the registration would begin. Groeneveldt said that one of the main reasons the department of labor chose to do this project is to see how many locals or youths on St. Maarten are interested in becoming security officers.
Vensia Mathew HR Administrator of Sheriff Security said the company could hire as much as fifty new workers now but that is not their limit because Sheriff Security is a growing company and there is always need for more workers.
When asked if the intention is to weed out immigrant workers that are working for these security companies both the Minister and management of Sheriff Security said that they do not intend to lay off workers, instead they will not be requesting working permits for other immigrant workers. Minister De Weever explained that there is a policy in place to guide the work permit processing. He said persons that obtain working permits can only have that permit for a period three years, during that period of time the companies are supposed to be able to find local workers to fill the vacancy.
