"Extremely important to have those discussions ahead of time to avoid negative situations."
The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams stated during the weekly Council of Ministers Press Briefing that she and her cabinet is preparing for a meeting with the so-called GOA, the Consultation Instance for Matters pertaining to Government Personnel. "We are looking at having a meeting week after next to talk about the matter of the Cost of Living Indexation. The Indexation for 2011 was finally paid out earlier this year and both the Minister of Finance and I indicated that it is necessary that we have discussions regarding how the procedure evolved with the representatives of the workers of the Government in the GOA where Union Representatives will be present. We want to and look forward to having that discussion particularly considering how the indexation that is now applied to all salaries of Government, which is not governed by any specific law but a Government Policy that states that the indexation will be paid out in full depending on the financial rules of the Government. Therefore I think it extremely important that we have those discussions ahead of time so that we won't end up in a situation such as we had with the payment of the last indexation that was not taken up in the Budget", commented the Prime Minister. The PM concluded by stating that she want to avoid frustration by Government Workers who did not know what was occurring regarding the Index; "We were finally pleased that we still could have paid out the indexation this year but we want to avoid this for next and subsequent years", concluded the PM.
From the Cabinet of the Prime Minister