PHILIPSBURG--Nieuwe Post Nederlandse Antillen (NPNA) Director Franklin Sluis said on Thursday that NPNA cannot continue to carry the financial burden for services that are supposed to be executed by Postal Services St. Maarten (PSS) and is firm in its stance that the NPNA will terminate services in October this year.
Responding to comments made by Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams on Wednesday, Sluis said NPNA had exhausted all options in trying to cooperate with St. Maarten in setting up its postal service and likened what he said was St. Maarten's non-communication with NPNA to "game playing."
The PM told the media on Wednesday that she would travel to Cura�ao on August 23 to attend an NPNA general shareholders meeting to discuss several issues and guarantees to ensure that the transition to PSS does not affect adversely the services being provided in St. Maarten. One of the pertinent issues is the position of the employees who are currently employed by NPNA.
She said that although the transfer process had not gone "the way we would have liked it to go" it did not mean the government of St. Maarten would just accept that the services were terminated without taking into consideration the continued service to the people of St. Maarten.
Sluis said St. Maarten continued to make it sound like NPNA was not cooperating, while it was NPNA that had been left "holding the short stick" by St. Maarten's persistent habit of not meeting deadlines and/or properly communicating with NPNA. Sluis said the position of the 34 employees had been made clear to the union and the employees months ago.
"We informed all employees that they will see no difference other than they will be working for a different company. We told them and the union that we will make sure that they go seamlessly over to the new company with all benefits and acquired rights, as agreed on in meetings of August 14 and 15, 2010," Sluis said, adding that there had been no discussion whatsoever about termination of any employee. He said the employees had the knowledge to carry out the services in St. Maarten.
Sluis explained that NPNA had tried numerous times to create an action plan and identify the things St. Maarten would need to move forward with its services. "But one way or the other we are always waiting or don't get any response. Then deadlines pass and we have to start all over again. All of this while NPNA continues to hold the financial burdens for services in St. Maarten," Sluis said.
"We offered St. Maarten to freely set up its Post organisation in three months time. We informed them, informed them what they would need in terms of investment for software, inventory, furniture, vehicles, etc. The deadline that we set for this offer passed with no response. After the deadline passed we received a letter informing us that they [St. Maarten, ed.] don't believe we can do it in three months."
Sluis added that although NPNA had sent at least three draft action plans to St. Maarten, there had been "no progress whatsoever on any." He said the only response to any action plan had come after NPNA reminded St. Maarten that a response had not been provided and St. Maarten only then had responded with, "We are in review and will get back to you."
He said the last deadline, July 8, had passed "without even one phone call from St. Maarten telling us we cannot make the deadline. I had to call St. Maarten again to see what's going on. We finally received a response four or five days after the deadline declining a proposal/action plan we agreed on during a meeting. Then is when we thought this must be a game," Sluis said.
NPNA decided at that point that it was no longer financially responsible to carry the financial burden while those responsible "keep postponing because they don't have the burden," Sluis said.
"October 2011 will be exactly one year that NPNA would be providing services in St. Maarten without having a concession. We cannot print a stamp to sell on the international market. PSS has the concession, is selling stamps, reaping the financial benefits while NPNA carries the burden. We have no choice, but to end it in October," he concluded.
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