The PM faced questions from Members of Parliament (MPs) about the current postal services impasse and used the opportunity to dispel MPs' misconceptions. She also disclosed details of the draft agreement that NPNA had accused government of changing after the language was agreed upon over the weekend by all parties involved. NPNA had charged that these changes led to further stagnation of negotiations.
However, Wescot-Williams, who said she was eager to paint a truer picture of the situation, outlined the two issues in the draft agreement with which the government could not agree. First, she explained that NPNA, as outlined in the draft agreement, was "adamant" that "parties are aware of the intention/fact that NPNA would provide non-concession-related postal services in St. Maarten." She said this was considered a breaking point for NPNA.
However, she stressed: "There is no way that I can commit the government of St. Maarten to that and there was no way I could agree to that being included in any agreement, as much as I would have loved to sign that contract that might then have prevented us from facing the closure of the postal activities on October 10."
She added, "Someone should explain to me what this has to do with anything and why this can be a breaking point in a document that has to guarantee the position of workers and transfer of postal services."
The second issue of contention, Wescot-Williams said, was NPNA's apparent unwillingness to abide by the laws and stipulations that govern the CLA between NPNA and the employees via their union SMCU.
She explained that discussions on October 6, 7 and 8 had focused on giving all NPNA St. Maarten workers one week to decide whether they wished to go over to Postal Services St. Maarten (PSS). PSS would honour a request for employment by all employees of NPNA St. Maarten. All employees would receive letters of termination from NPNA and letters for job offers from PSS. The letters for jobs from PSS would include, among other things, dates of appointment, functions, other current benefits, continuation of legal positions, etc.
"As we reviewed and discussed that proposal the question came up: 'But what will the termination of the services by NPNA mean for the worker?' So we adjusted that article to read that the NPNA would terminate the workers, but on the conditions of the CLA that govern the workers. So NPNA cannot come here today and tell us, 'We will terminate the workers and then PSS take them over,' but not talk about what is due to the employees having worked all of those years for NPNA," the PM explained.
In other words, NPNA wants to terminate its employees and not fulfil its obligations to these employees as their CLA dictates. "What happens when the worker comes to PSS tomorrow and says, 'I had this outstanding matter with my employer in January 2011, I didn't get my salary fixed or maybe have a medical issue.' What are we to tell them? Go to a company that by that time would have signed off on a protocol and gone?" she asked.
She said the exercise obviously would cost NPNA money, but "aren't the workers entitled to be paid accordingly for the years they have worked there? But now can't find yourself to say, 'We are going to make a decent break so that PSS can give them a decent start to carry out postal activities here'? It wasn't important to abide by the CLA, but it was important to put in the draft agreement that government acknowledges your business intention."
In relation to the reported Soualiga Service Point (SSP), the PM explained that SSP was not an established company but, as far as she understood, NPNA would be doing business as SSP if it managed to open its non-postal commercial operations in St. Maarten.
She also explained that an attorney acting on behalf of NPNA had written to Minister of Economic Affairs Franklin Meyers last week asking whether the non-postal activities by NPNA needed a business licence and, if so, if the same letter to the Minister could be considered a request for a licence. She did not elaborate whether Meyers had responded.
The PM also briefed Parliament on much of what has been reported by local media already concerning when PSS was established, the fact that the postal workers and their legal positions fall under the auspices of NPNA, that it was NPNA that had closed the Post Office on Monday, the financial losses of NPNA's operations in St. Maarten for the first half of this year, etc.
The meeting was adjourned until Tuesday, October 18, when the second round of questioning by Parliamentarians will take place.
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