Health care in disarray, Civil Servants being victimized through Evaluation Process.
PHILIPSBURG: --- Denicio Connor, long time member of the Windward Island Civil Servant and Private Sector Union (WICSU/PSU) spoke out Monday on the various issues the WICSU/PSU is facing and he felt that the only option left is for the WISCU/PSU to hold its general elections to salvage the credibility of the union. Connor said he raised his concerns on numerous occasions with the board, mainly the President Derie Leonard and the General Secretary but despite all of that the board of WICSU/PSU refused to do anything to deal with the various issues facing civil servants and members in the private sector they represent.
Connor said the current board consists of family members of the President who said that she stepped down in a newspaper article to take up the Mediator position at the Department of Labor while the Vice President who was appointed was pushed aside since he has no signing power. Connor said for the past three years the board of WICSU/PSU have not been doing anything with the activities of the union. He said the former Prime Minister and now Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams wanted to establish a platform for the union to negotiate a Collective Labor Agreement (CLA) for civil servants but the union did not react to the proposal. He said Wescot Williams also wanted to establish a consumer organization which would have helped civil servants save monies when shopping. Connor said both of the recommendation by the former Prime Minister were shelved because the WICSU/PSU board did not react to the proposal claiming it was a hoax" How can anyone in their right minds say these two proposals were a hoax when they did nothing to establish any of them, both proposals have been pending for three years now. Besides that the WISCU/PSU chose to take government to court on the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA), even though they were advised not to pursue the matter legally, but the board decided they will go to court and they lose the case. There were talks that the union will appeal the verdict but to date the membership do not know if the case was appealed or not" Connor said that even though he is an active member and a member of the GOA he does not have the facts on what the board does. He said he is very much concerned because the decisions taken by the board of WICSU/PSU affects the lives of the civil servants including their income. He said the issues facing the membership is too big of an issue to have it sit on the back burner and this is one of the issues he has with the board members. He said that the board of the union should have called a closed door meeting and inform its membership on the status of the COLA court case but to date that is not done. Connor said the loss of the COLA has affected the civil servants and in the meantime government came up with a new strategy which in his view is to victimize the civil servants. Government has decided they will do an evaluation of each civil servant annually and this in his view is a way to victimize civil servants. He said based on the evaluation civil servants will again lose monies. He said in the past government would give every civil servant a standard increase, today that has changed. Civil Servants will get an increase or decrease based on the evaluation. He said several members raised concerns on the evaluation process but the union turns a blind eye the plight of its membership.
As for healthcare he said that is in pure shambles even though they have a document that outlines the steps that has to be followed but it appears as though SZV is doing what they want "People that are sick and needs proper health care has to run back and forth to get what they need because there is no straight program that SZV follow. Connor said the main issue with this situation is that there is no system in place where victims of SZV could lodge their complaints. He said the union is the body that has to represent its members and the board is also not doing anything to address the issues. Connor said there is draft law in place and the board of WICSU/PSU should be the one to approach SZV but so far they have not done anything. He said that he does not believe that issues such as this should be left untouched because it then becomes a presidency.
Connor said that even though he received a memo that stated that election will be held on March 20th 2015, there is no election committee in place which means that the election that is set is unconstitutional and the date that is set is fictitious. He said that even though the General Secretary said a General Membership meeting will be held and an election committee will be put in place, up to this day nothing has been done because the board is dragging its feet. Connor said the board is not doing their jobs on representing workers and because of this every effort should be made to salvage the WICSU/PSU.
Connor said that the talks that the current President negotiated a position that she was supposed to take up at the Labor Department is not a rumor or a story people created. He said the President Derie Leonard told several persons this including the board. She even sent a letter to the former Minister of Labor who promised her the position. Besides that she is the one that published in the newspapers that she has stepped down to take on another position. "Derie Leonard is her own enemy because she talks too much especially on this issue because she probably felt she could blackmail the former Minister to get the position even though she knew it was a conflict of interest and that is the main reason she sent a letter to the former Minister to say she vacated the position as President of the WICSU/PSU." He said he don't know what really transpired but the President is the one telling everyone that she will be next mediator at the Department of Labor. He said the President of the WICSU/PSU announced in the newspaper that she stepped down from the Presidency to take up another position. He said that the President has taken a back seat and have not been dealing with the issues facing the members. Connor said one of the main concern right now is that WICSU/PSU does not have an active president and that is his concern because he is speaking on behalf of several members that are also concerned.
Connor admitted that the position that the President of WICSU/PSU negotiated with the former Minister of Labor creates a conflict of interest. He said what is amazing about the entire situation is that prior to the Parliamentary elections held on August 29th 2014 the board and membership of WISCU/PSU agreed in a meeting that they will not endorse any politician that is seeking public office. He said WISCU/PSU board agreed to keep their distance but today they saw the table turned right before their eyes. "The reason the board and its members decided to keep their distance is because labor has a lot to do with politics but it should not be intertwined with politics. While the decision taken by the President is her prerogative the union and its membership has to distance itself from such."
In invited comment General Secretary of the WICSU/PSU William Reed he said that he has to sit with the board to set a date for the general membership meeting, and to establish an election committee as well as a new date for the elections to be held. Reed made clear that the WICSU/PSU is much bigger than any one person and indeed there are matters that have to be straightened up. He said that the organization has been in existence for the past 36 years while he became a member in 1997.
When asked what kept back the establishing of the platform to negotiate the CLA for civil servants with government. Reed said he began campaigning on this issue since St. Maarten was part of the Netherlands Antilles and he used to attend CPSA conference and saw that it was possible for the union to negotiate CLA's with government. He said by attending these conferences he saw where British countries were negotiating CLAs with government. He said he also brought it up when he was part of the GOA in the Federal Government and today they are negotiating but St. Maarten has not started negotiations. He said that WICU/PSU did exchange information with the GOA and module was put in place but he believe that was placed on the back burner (stagnated) because the WICSU/PSU initiated the court case against government.
He said that he believe that the process the former Prime Minister started went on the back-burner when the union decided to take government to court on the COLA issue. As for the establishment of the consumer organization he said he could not say why that fell through because the President of the WICSU/PSU was dealing with government (GOA) on that matter.
Asked why the union did not follow through on these issues if it was because the board of WICSU/PSU felt that it was a hoax or if it is because the President of the union got herself involved in politics and negotiated a position for herself at the expense of the civil servants? Reed said that even though he is the general secretary of the WICSU/PSU he does not know why the consumer organization became a stalemate because the board neither the president did not apprised him.