Teachers Furious with Unions Representatives --- Feels that Unions are compromising with Government --- 30 Million deficit must be filled by February 17th.

Philipsburg:--- Several teachers and civil servants who attended the information session called by various unions on Monday to further discuss the third proposal presented to the unions by Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto expressed disgust at their union representatives whom they said are compromising with government.

Furthermore, the teachers who are represented by the Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) said they are not satisfied with the WICSU whose full membership was not in attendance at the meetings. The teachers said it appears as though the WICSU is not on the same page as the WITU and they are using the membership of the WITU in the labour fight. “Most of the people here are teachers and at the end of the day all civil servants will benefit because they too will receive their 5.3% cost of living allowances.” One angry teacher said she is of the opinion that the unions were paid out over the weekend because the unions have changed their attitude in representing them.

In an invited comment, a board member of the WICSU said that when the unions met with government on Friday they obtained information on government’s predicament. The WICSU member said that government explained to them that the 2011 budget is still to be approved by the CFT and they are not in a position to add anything else to the budget which could bring about a negative feedback from the CFT. The Finance Minister told the unions that there is nothing he could do to the budget to meet their demands.

However, the teachers and civil servants feel that the Finance Minister would have to deal with that by himself since he did not consult with the unions when he adjusted the budget and removed their cost of living allowances. The teachers said that the Minister could have reduced the salaries of the Members of Parliaments or that of the Ministers rather than cutting the worker’s salaries.

According to the WICSU board member, the membership of the unions refused to understand or work with government since according to them government has monies to build  a bridge, and fix roads but they have refused to pay their workers. “While the unions understand the feelings of our membership we also have to find a solution to this problem. It is not good when government rolls out a project everyday and expect us to convince the workers that they do not have any monies.” The WICSU board member said government has to be realistic in what they are doing. Up to 2pm on Monday the unions and its members could not come to a consensus on the proposal they are going to submit to government on the cost of living allowances.

Several Members of parliament from the National Alliance faction were seen at Monday’s meeting. An elderly man was overheard telling the unions to demand the resignation from government and call for new election. The gentleman said government had refused to address their people and bring about a solution even though there is a national crisis ongoing.

In the meantime, the unions, namely the WITU, WICSU/PSU, ABVO, WIFOL and WIHCU will be continuing with their meetings on Tuesday as they have sent another proposal to the Minister of Finance telling him that the workers are willing to accept their 3.3% cost of living allowance by March 1 2011 retroactively to January 1 2011. The unions also made clear in their proposal that the workers are willing to accept their cost of living allowances by March 1 without interest. Included in the proposal is that should government decide they would not make the payments by March 1 then they would be demanding interest.

CFT and 2011 Budget ---  St. Maarten Government must fill 30 million holes by February 17^th

The 2011 budget had 130 million guilders deficit when it was presented. Government in an effort to balance the budget added 2% TOT tax on goods purchased while they made several cuts in the budget to balance it. The Finance Minister had said he presented a balanced budget when the TOT tax was increased from 3% to 5%. However, with the latest information from the CFT it can be concluded that the 2011 budget which was approved by the UP/DP coalition in parliament is far from being balanced.

Prison Guards Walk Out.

On Monday, the prison guards at the Pointe Blanche prison staged a walk out protesting against government whom they said had enough time to prepare their salaries for January 2011. According to the prison guards, some of their colleagues were not paid while they did not receive the 2% cost of living allowances government promised to add their salaries. The director of the prison system was the only person on duty on Monday as the guards left to attend the meetings called by their unions at the Great Bay Sports Auditorium. Earlier SMN News stated that the Coast Guards were part of the walk out but when they were contacted they said they were not a part of any actions.

In an invited comment, Prison Director Rudsel Ricardo said that he locked in the prisoners because the guards are fighting for their rights. Ricardo said it is his belief that the prisoners will cooperate because they understand the fight of the civil servants. Ricardo also confirmed that he alerted the police about the situation at the Pointe Blanche Prison.
In the meantime, the immigration officers at the Princess Juliana International Airport are also on a go slow as they protest against their cost of living allowances.