Philipsburg:--- Some twenty employees of the Eastern Caribbean Cellular (ECC) have decided they have had enough and it's time for them to clear the air on their employment situation after the company's trustee walked into the building and decided it was time to close down operations on Wednesday.According to the trustee representative from Lexwell law firm the employees were paid their salaries up to October 7th and they were asked to go home, but the employees have decided that they will not leave unless the company's trustee gave them a dismissal letter in writing. Asked if the employees were paid out for their years of services to the company, the trustee representative said they are busy conducting an assessment and if the company has enough monies in their coffers then the employees will receive their dues. However, he said no final decision has been taken on how they would deal with the employees. On Wednesday afternoon the company's managing director Beulah Jonis visited the company to deliver a letter to the employees informing them that they no longer needed to report to work. The letter states that the employees must provide the company with their contact information just in case they have to work or be given information on the bankruptcy procedures. SMN News learnt that the employees did not accept the letter and Jonis left the company promising to return with the relevant authorities to evict the company's workers.
Linden Powel, Operations manager of ECC for the past 21 years told SMN News that the employees learnt of the bankruptcy via the news and that just recently they were told by their managing director that the company is closing down.
The obviously upset employee said they are upset and this should not be allowed to happen on St. Maarten. "Companies come to St. Maarten and they make loads of money and then they would walk away leaving their employees stranded months before the holiday season without income." Powel said while he is the operations manager for the last eight years he served ECC for the past 21 years while some of his colleagues have been with the company 19, 20 and the least is 10 years.Powel said over the years the employees were told by local management and the management on the corporate level that the company would have made the necessary investments to keep the company going while they will safeguard the employment of the employees. The operations manager said while they were aware that the company was going downhill they were not privileged to the financial status of the company. The employees said that while they had a managing director in the person of Beulah Jonis that person never visited the company or informed them of anything regarding their employment or status of the company. Most of the employees blamed the managing director for their current predicament.
Powel said the employees have sought legal advice on how they would proceed with their dilemma while their union representatives are also involved.
SMN News learnt that ECC filed bankruptcy when they learnt that island receivers were moving in on them for unpaid taxes. Reliable sources say the company has not paid its taxes for a number of years, and that they were negotiating with Digicel to sell their business license.
