Philipsburg:--- While the workers of Nieuw Post Netherlands Antilles (NPNA) are left out in the cold with the official shut down of St. Maarten operations for the lack of an agreement with the Government of St. Maarten and Postal Services St. Maarten (PSS). SMN News managed to secure the chamber registration of a company that was registered by the chairman of NPNA board Franklin Alexander Sluis and Elise Marie Romer who will be operating the non postal services here on St. Maarten. The operations were scheduled to begin since Monday at two locations.It should be noted that Marie Elise Marie Romer is the current Marketing and Sales Manager of NPNA St. Maarten. She was among the workers who protested on Thursday in front of the Government Administration Building with the other workers who are very much concerned about their job security since NPNA shut down their operations on St. Maarten. However, Romer was nowhere to be seen on Tuesday when the plight of the Post Office was discussed in Parliament. The public tribune of parliament was filled to capacity with the other workers of NPNA as well as with their union representatives from St. Maarten Communications Union (SMCU).
According to the business registration of Sluis and Romer, "New Advanced International Mailhouse Services NV" was going to conduct its operations at 34 Airport Road Simpson Bay, but recently Sluis rented a building on Cannegieter Street, St. Maarten where they also intend to operate as Soualiga Service Point. (SSP). New Advanced International Mailhouse Services NV was registered in 2003 but was amended in 2009 to conduct broad based postal and financial operations.The Prime Minister of St. Maarten and the shareholder representative of NPNA Sarah Wescot-Williams said last week that the SMCU signed an agreement with the NPNA where the union committed PSS in the agreement. However, Ludson Evers of SMCU admitted they signed a protocol with NPNA but he said they did not bind PSS in the signed agreement. According to reliable sources, the SMCU allegedly sold out its members to NPNA because the union representatives are not demanding that NPNA pay out the workers as requested by PSS before the workers could be transferred to PSS. The workers' rights were one of government's sticking points on Sunday when they were negotiating a new service level agreement with NPNA.
On Tuesday, SMN News asked SMCU representative Ludson Evers why NPNA refused to pay out the workers for their years of services with NPNA and Evers said if NPNA is to pay out the workers then St. Maarten would have to forfeit its 25% shares in the company. Evers seems to be fighting the battles of the workers with the government of St. Maarten instead of holding NPNA responsible for their workers since SMCU and NPNA has a signed collective labor agreement. What is not clear to the people of St. Maarten and to SMN News is why the workers whose concerns are legitimate have decided to down tools when they are being paid by NPNA their official employers and most importantly why did NPNA not take action against the union and its members.On Tuesday, the National Alliance Faction called for a public debate on the ongoing discussions between NPNA and PSS and the current state of affairs of the workers who are currently work for NPNA. During the debate several Members of Parliament requested information concerning the status of PSS and if it was fully registered and recognized by the United Postal Union. Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams in her response said PSS was established in October 2010 and that the government of St. Maarten granted the concession for postal services to PSS in November 2010. Wescot Williams also informed Parliament that PSS has also been recognized by the UPU and just recently they received their postal codes from the UPU. She also said that NPNA has informed the UPU that they are no longer responsible for the postal services on St. Maarten.
The Prime Minister further explained that the workers who attended the parliamentary sessions were in the employ of NPNA and they are entitled to all their benefits as stipulated in the Collective Labor Agreement(CLA) signed by NPNA and SMCU. The Prime Minister also said that based on her understanding the workers "down their tools on Thursday and Friday" but on Monday the building that housed the Post Office was officially shut down by the NPNA since their operational agreement for the period of one year ended on October 9th 2011. Wescot-Williams also explained that while NPNA said they were operating at a loss on St. Maarten, they are bent on keeping the non postal services for themselves even though they are not in possession of a license or concession to conduct business on St. Maarten. Some Members of Parliament wanted to know if the government of St. Maarten granted a business license to Soualiga Service Point (SSP) to operate on St. Maarten while the Post Office is now closed. Wescot-Williams in her response said no licenses were granted to SSP but she also made clear that SSP and NPNA is one. SSP is the (DBA) of NPNA.
According to the 2010 financial actual provided to St. Maarten by NPNA in a shareholders meeting, NPNA claimed they suffered a 1.4 million guilders loss in 2010 while for the first half of 2011 they indicated that they are -672,619.00 guilders in deficit, all of which Wescot Williams said included third party agreements. The Prime Minister made clear that she did not know if the figures were posted correctly because the only document she received was the actual (profit and loss) and not the balance sheet.The Prime Minister also clarified that PSS does not have any agreement to payout pensions. She said NPNA is the one who signed a contract with SVB now SZB to make pension payment and even though NPNA has several contracts with other businesses they chose to cease all negotiations with the government of St. Maarten and PSS to continue services here on St. Maarten.
The Prime Minister said they were working on a service level agreement (SLA) over the weekend but she could not have signed the agreement when she realized that NPNA wanted government (parties) to acknowledge that NPNA will provide non concessional services on St. Maarten. She said she wanted to know what that article has to do with guaranteeing the workers position and the transitional transfer to St. Maarten. Wescot Williams said government could not sign a document which would not bind the workers current employers to the workers' rights and benefits.
She said PSS was willing to take over the workers if NPNA honors the CLA that governs the workers prior to the termination of the workers. She said that government felt that NPNA is obliged to pay the workers their benefits prior to terminating them. She said NPNA should have known they were operating a losing company.
Click here to view to the Chamber Registration of New Advanced International Mailhouse Services NV.
