Members of the Democratic Party faction posed several critical questions on the labour situation on April 16th hoping that the executive council would have been able to provide them with the answers on Tuesday. On Tuesday afternoon when the meeting was called the chairman of the island council informed the island council that the executive council needed at least half an hour more for them to prepare the answers.
Members of the island council voiced their opinions openly on how the commissioner responsible for labour affairs is conducting his duties saying he was simply not ready and wondered in what spirit he would run country St. Maarten.
However, the meeting had to be adjourned to May 10th since Marlin told the council that most of the answers they were seeking are still not ready and the department is busy putting those answers together for them. The chairman of the island council also assured the council that when the answers are ready it will be provided to them in writing even though it is not customary.
As for the questions posed about the Brooks Tower Accord, Marlin made clear that the executive council could not provide answers about the BTA process since that fell under the Minister of Justice. He said the executive council shortens the procedures for persons falling under the category two of the BTA process by requesting a copy of the business license of the applicant's employer, their employment contract and a copy of their passport.
Marlin further explained that the BTA process did have some delays since the persons hired to verify the documents were not sure what they were looking for. He said this happened because many persons simply did not understand the process.
Marlin said during the BTA processed they discovered that St. Maarten had people living on the island for as long as 38 years and was never registered at the Census Office. He said many of the applicants came here as toddlers and attended school on St. Maarten and now they are adults and sought employment they were confronted with the need for a labour permit.
The island leader said something had to be done to make sure the people living on St. Maarten for years could regulate their statuses on the island and that is what the BTA facilitated.
Marlin said it would not be fair for St. Maarten to tell those persons who obtained a BTA permit that they were not going to get a regular working or residence permit as such they are currently in discussion with employers and other parties to move forward. He said the BTA is temporary and when it expires the people have to follow the local policy.
Marlin said the executive council already realizes that if amendments are not made to the current legislations then problems lie ahead for St. Maarten. He said it would be incorrect for government to allow people to live on the island illegally for years and now they have reached working age to refuse them a work permit based on the current labour policy that stipulates that persons under the age of 25 cannot be issued a working permit. Marlin said many of these persons were allowed to register under the BTA process and it would not be fair to implement the labour policy to the fullest extent when the BTA expires. As such the executive council has these legislations under review and decisions will soon be taken to make sure they do not create another nightmare for the applicants of work permits. Marlin said government is also looking into how to address the unemployment situation on St. Maarten and the alleged abuse of the short term labour contracts.
Marlin said he said before that St. Maarten needs to have open discussion with employers concerning the abuse of the labour laws. He said there are employers who prefer to hire immigrant workers because these people are willing to work longer hours for less pay and no insurance, while leaving locals out in the cold without work.
Responding to the executive council, leader of the Democratic Party Sarah Wescot Williams in her presentation acknowledged there is a collective responsibility in the executive council since the leader of government answered the questions. Wescot Williams said she particularly asked if the commissioner of labour has any intentions of answering the questions that was posed directly to him and if he was not going to address the island council then she would like to know if there is a particular reason behind his silence.
The Democratic Party faction leader also wanted the executive council to elaborate on what they meant when they said the tripartite committee is under review and to make the committee broad base.
Wescot Williams said she wants the executive council to say exactly what type of permits were given to the category two BTA and if the permits also expire on November 3 2010.
She said also wants to know if government has an idea as to how they would deal with the applications for extensions especially now that the central government has transferred labour to the island territory. Wescot Williams also used the opportunity to indicate that even though present during the historical transfer of tasks her faction does not know exactly what the central government and local government signed off on since she did not receive a copy of the documents. She called on the chairman of the island council to make sure members of the island council sees the "folder" and get a copy of the documents signed off on Tuesday morning.