~ One rule was used for all Caribbean Countries.~
PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said the cuts imposed on civil servants and workers at government-owned companies remained unfair. The Prime Minister was responding to questions regarding the stance taken by the St. Maarten Telecommunication Union (SMUC) and TELEM Group of Companies.
Jacobs said that a meeting with the Windward Islands Chamber of Labor Unions has been scheduled to discuss the way forward. However, she made clear that the 12..5% cuts were forced on St. Maarten in order to qualify for liquidity support. She said that the Dutch government basically dealt with all the countries the same way. Jacobs said that Aruba decided to implement 12.6.% cuts in the beginning and this is what the Dutch Government used when they demanded that St. Maarten make the 12.5% cuts.
Jacobs said St. Maarten is also having some challenges in getting a cost of a living report from the SER. The Prime Minister said the government wanted to have substantial documentation before meeting with the unions to discuss the way forward.
She said that while the government is doing its best to clean up, seemingly everyone expects this government to clean up all the mess that was festering over the 30 to 50 years, and even the past 11 years since St. Maarten became a country within the Kingdom. The country's Prime Minister said St. Maarten is still growing and some of the changes that are required are quite painful and even difficult to implement. This she said requires a change of mindset because people were in the habit of calling people they know for favors and now when they are told that they need to follow procedures then members of government are called all sorts of names. The Prime Minister made clear that her government has not lost touch with the community, but the reality is the change sometimes requires policies, legislative changes, and sometimes just a change of mindset. She made clear that the changes are slow, but they are inevitable.
Jacobs said that all government-owned companies are obligated to implement the 12.5% cuts based on the verdict rendered by the Constitutional Court. She said the government-owned companies were in discussions with the unions while up until last week she was informed that TELEM and SMUC had involved the mediator in their discussions.
Jacobs said that St. Maarten needs an analysis of the effects of the cuts on the community post haste in order for the government to fight against it harder. Jacobs made clear that the three Caribbean countries have different issues yet the Dutch used the same broom to sweep over all three countries.
