Philipsburg: --- President of the Windward Islands Civil Servants Union William Reed informed members of the media on Friday that he was called to an emergency meeting on Friday to be informed by the Minister of Justice that the police and prison guards will not be paid until sometime next week.Reed said the Minister of Justice Roland Duncan told him that the personnel of the finance department made some sort of mistake with the calculation which they are trying to correct. The unionist said the Minister asked him as the union representative of these workers to exercise patience with the lateness since this is the first time St. Maarten has occupied with the payment of federal workers.
Reed said based on experience, the Minister of finance Hiro Shigemoto is known to be stubborn. Reed said the unions have been experiencing problems with Shigemoto since when the island was an island territory. "Every time pay day comes around civil servants have a problem with their salaries." Reed said mistakes and other problems with the civil servants salaries have been going on for a long time now that it has become a culture from the department of finance head who is now the Minister of Finance. Reed said based on his assessment the culture of the finance department from the island territory has been carried over to country St. Maarten.
Reed made clear that this is the reason why the WICSU/PSU and its members are taking this stance and he assured that each time there are problems with the salaries of the civil servants, the unions will take action.
