Simpson Bay Resort will offer 91 WIFOL members employment

~ Persons have one week to apply ~

PHILIPSBURG--The Simpson Bay Resort Management Company (SBRMC) announced on Tuesday that it is offering an exclusive opportunity for employment to 91 members of WIFOL, formerly employed by Pelican Resort Club. These persons, whose names will be published, is being given one week as of tomorrow, Thursday, January 12, to apply for a function within the SBRMC group.

Attorney representing the SBRMC group Jairo Bloem explained that should these persons not apply within one week, the SBRMC will look for employment from the available employment pool on St. Maarten to fill any remaining function that might have been left vacant. He said if the functions are filled, "then regretfully SBRMC won't be able to employ the members of WIFOL."

Minister of Labour Cornelius DeWeever was informed of the decision. SBRMC arrived at the 91 person figure by subtracting them from the 182 pool of employees that the court had initially ruled that SBRMC was responsible for employing which led to the closer of the resort for 10 days in March 2011.

With the involvement of Ministers Theo Heyliger and Franklin Meyers, an agreement was then reached which stipulated that 143 people would be offered permanent employment, with the exception of 43 persons that were placed on non active duty. The resort also filed a conditional dismissal request for 49 persons and maintained that it was not the employer of the employees.

This agreement was ultimately not carried when WIFOL, forced on by its membership, did not ratify it. WIFOL subsequently took SBRMC to court and the court ruled that SBRMC was responsible for the employment of the 182 people.

Then on November 4 and 7, the court of appeals overturned the initial verdict which stated that SBRMC was responsible for the employment of these 182 persons. The court in essence ruled that SBRMC is not responsible and hold no obligations towards the employees.

On December 2, the court of appeals again ruled that SBRMC hold no obligation towards the employees. Bloem said although WIFOL, through its attorney, said it will initiate the start of a new court case and summoned SBRMC again from executing the verdicts of November 4 and 7, "we do not know if they did, they have announced they would take further action to stop execution of verdict. So far we have not seen anything."

As such, Bloem said SBRMC "cannot wait for eternity" and especially now in peak season with the resort 95 percent filled, to fill functions. Of the 182 employees, 43 had applied in January 2010 for a function with SBRMC, received this function and entered into labour agreements with SBRMC and have been employed ever since.

"So if you deduct from 182, the 49 for which the conditional dismissal request was filed and the 43 who are already employed, we get 91 people," Bloem said. "SBRMC can only hope that as many of these 91 persons as possible will grasp the opportunity. They are not going to be requested any waiver or relinquish any possible legal claims," he said.

Persons will apply for a function under the terms (employment length included) of the resort which will vary per employee. Bloem also said that SBRMC can optimally function with about 60 to 65 employees, "but in keeping with commitments and doing the honourable thing, SBRMC is offering this employment opportunity to 91 persons because it's fair and considering employment situation on St. Maarten. SBRMC acknowledges that the employment matter of WIFOL's members is an important issue and stand by its commitment to do good by the people as was its intentions from the offset when it made the offer to WIFOL."

Bloem said there was no offer of employment between November 4, and December 2, 2011. WIFOL had summoned SBRMC to refrain from contacting its members and making any job offers to the members of WIFOL. Bloem said WIFOL alleged that this created division, applied undue pressure and put the employees in a difficult position, and as such was not fair.

"SBRMC found itself in a difficult position, in that it wants to grant the members of WIFOL first opportunity for employment, but the union of which most of the people in question are a member, maintained that SBRMC should not contact people directly," Bloem said.

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/24205-simpson-bay-resort-will-offer-91-wifol-members-employment-.html

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