PHILIPSBURG--Certain information such as the financial records and redundancy plan of Simpson Bay Resort and Marina (SBRM) has not been provided to the Labour Department, despite repeated requests, resulting in the department being unable to make a timely decision on the request to dismiss 49 workers filed in April 2011.
Labour Affairs Department head Peggy-Ann Dros said on Monday that access to the financial data was necessary for the department to have a better understanding of the resort and its request.
"The requestor must submit a financial plan and we have been constantly asking for this, but we have not received it," she told workers during an informative session requested by their union on Monday. The session was held after workers held a peaceful protest action outside the department seeking answers and wanting to apply for financial aid (see related story).
Also at that meeting were Social Services head Mark Schloss, Labour Ministry Secretary-General Jorien Wuite and Labour Minister Cornelius de Weever's Press Secretary Lorraine Scot.
The Labour Department also has not received clarity on what Dros said was "confusing" information in the dismissal request.
She told the workers that the request had been submitted by "Pelican Resort/Simpson Bay Resort Management Company." She said clarity had been sought from attorney Jairo Bloem, who represents both companies, about which one of the companies was filing the request, but no response had been received to date.
"A person can only have one employer," said Dros. She also indicated that the application contained "incomplete" and "inaccurate" information.
"This brings us to a predicament. ... It causes a blockage in the process. We need clarification," she said.
Also not provided is a copy of the most recent court verdict. Dros said the dismissal request "cannot be divorced" from the ongoing court cases between the resort and Workers Institute for Organised Labour (WIFOL), which represents the workers.
"The verdict is important," she said adding that her understanding of the verdict was that Simpson Bay Resort was no longer liable for the employment of the workers. "This complicates matters," she said.
However, WIFOL President Theophilus Thompson said the court cases had nothing to do with the 47 workers in question, as the tripartite agreement signed by government, the resort and the union in April 2011 indicated that up to 50 workers could be dismissed. He said too that the workers had received letters from the company saying that their salaries would be paid in full until a decision was made on the dismissal request. A decision, he added, had been expected within six weeks.
However, Dros said the agreement to which Thompson referred indicated that a decision could be rendered in three months. She stressed too that the department had to remain objective and noted that it operated under rules and regulations and needed all the necessary information at hand to render a decision.
"We realise that this is a sensitive case and we are sensitive to that situation," she said.
Some of the workers had also approached the department indicating their willingness to go to work for the resort. The number of workers could not be ascertained.
Both Dros and Wuite said clarity was also needed on the validity and relevance of the dismissal request as, among other things, the tripartite agreement signed by government, the resort and union stated that Simpson Bay Resort guaranteed the workers' salaries. They said the resort had to pay the workers based on this agreement. They also alluded to the ongoing court cases.
Some workers asked how long the department intended to wait on the resort and its attorney to provide the requested information for a decision to be made. Wuite said the department would be "wrapping up" the matter, but she did not specify a timeframe within which it would be finalised. However, she stressed that the relevance of the request needed to be determined first.
Thompson said he would like to see Bloem fulfil the request from the department and provide the information being requested.
On the issue of payment, Dros said the fact that workers had not been paid by the resort was an issue the union needed to take up.
However, the union said mediation was needed in a matter such as this and the union was not receiving a favourable response from the mediator.
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