PHILIPSBURG--Simpson Bay Resort and Marina (former Pelican Resort) Workers and their union took their concerns to the Department of Labour on Wednesday.
Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Frans Richardson, who was at the department for an unrelated matter and took time out to listen to the workers, said he did not think it was fair for the workers who had been functioning in positions of a permanent nature to be given six months labour contracts. He said eradicating this practise had been the basis of a draft amendment to the civil code presented by the National Alliance (NA) when he had been a member of that party.
Richardson condemned the actions of Simpson Bay Resort Management Company (SBRMC) General Manager Jules James, a United People's (UP) Party MP for "signing a letter to terminate the services of the workers." Richardson said it was a shame that his colleague MP was engaged in such a practise.
A group of the workers turned up at the Labour Office on Wednesday to register for unemployment and others to register for social security. They were given forms to fill in.
While they waited outside the department, their representative President of the Workers Institute for Organised Labour (WIFOL) Theophilus Thompson was indoors meeting with Labour Department representatives.
In the meantime, workers said they were confused and frustrated with the developments that had been taking place. "We don't know what to do," said one worker.
Another worker said they are being offered six months and year long labour contracts. The workers fear that this is management's way of keeping them employed initially and then kicking them out when the contracts expire.
The workers contend that they had been functioning in their respective positions for a prolonged period, some for years, yet they are being put on trial with short term contracts. Another worker said, to date individual workers hadn't received any correspondence in writing informing them that they had been terminated.
The union had lost its court case against SBRMC, which meant SBRMC was no longer obligated to continue paying salaries to the 182 employees.
In the meantime, Richardson urged the workers to seek clarity on the matter from their union and to seek advice from their union on how to proceed with this matter. He said too that this is a matter that requires government's attention given the number of workers involved.
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