Philipsburg:--- President of the Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) Claire Elshot announced at the Windward Islands Chamber of Labour Unions' weekly press briefing on Thursday that the WITU board met with the Minister of Finance on Tuesday. Elshot said when the WITU received the invitation to attend the meeting they were somewhat hesitant to attend because they could not understand why the Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt chose to meet with various union representatives separately. Elshot further explained that the WITU board did attend the meeting and several issues were discussed. She said that one of the points of the discussion was the COLA payments which the Minister of Finance assured her would be paid out at the end of July 2012. The WITU President said they are aware that government payroll closes on the 12th of every month but the Minister assured the WITU that the monies are in place for the payment but certain procedures have to be completed such as the ratification of the amendments made to the 2012 budget. As for the COLA payments, Elshot said she indicated to the Minister that she would like all teachers to receive their monies at the same time. She said a huge number of teachers work for subsidized schools and the school boards of these schools should get the monies and information so they would be able to comply with the scheduled payment dates. She said she would not want to have to deal with situations where the teachers of the subsidized schools are not being paid at the same time.Elshot made clear that the WITU is not in favor of government's proposal to change the COLA structure because it was created by a well known firm on St. Maarten, Deloitte & Touche and this system has only been in place for the past four to five years. Elshot said that government would have to bring more evidence to convince her board that the COLA is not feasible for St. Maarten. Elshot said she disagreed with the Minister because the salary scales were upgraded back to 2007. Elshot said she provided the Minister with information regarding the salary scales and how it was implemented.
The WITU President said she is of the opinion that government should widen the basket for controlled items and make more controls so that workers can get more goods for what they are working for.
Elshot also said the WITU will not encourage or entertain the Minister's idea to increase the pension age from 60 to 65. She said that teachers begin their career at age 22 to 25 and after 35 years of service they need to have time to enjoy their private lives. She further indicated that if the pension age will be increased then government would have to make sure that pensioners get 90% of their last salary instead of 70% as is the case now. "We will not be giving five more years of service and not be compensated for it. What I am seeing here is like monkey see monkey do, because the Netherlands increased their pension age from 60 to 67. Are you telling me that our workers will give five years more service and they will not be getting extra when the cost of living is rising. Teachers are already social because they are contributing to the AOV and will not be getting anything out of it."
She said when the government of the Netherlands tried to apply the new system, the workers there resisted heavily and the government had to increase the pension age gradually.
WICLU Vice President Presents Books to President of Union.
The Vice President of the Windward Islands Chamber of Labour Unions also presented a number of books on regulations that she brought back from Geneva when she attended the ILO conference. Elshot said workers and students can go to the WIFOL building to do their research on anything that relates to labor. She said that immigrant workers on St. Maarten are told that they have no rights but the union can prove them wrong because she also brought back a booklet on the rights of immigrant workers.