The President of the Workers Institute for Organized Labour (WIFOL) Theophillus Thompson said that workers of GEBE will soon be taking industrial action if the Chairman of the Board Julius Lambert does not allow the management of GEBE to sign the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) with the WIFOL. Thompson said that WIFOL is representing all workers at GEBE and they have been negotiating the CLA for the past two years. Those negotiations concluded last year but to date they are not able to get the CLA signed. Thompson said the Advisory Board of GEBE has been delaying the process by changing the dates constantly. Thompson said that after an investigation conducted by WIFOL they realized that the Chairman of the Board is not in favor of having a collective labor agreement for the workers of GEBE and that is a serious problem for the WIFOL. Thompson said the WIFOL dispatched several letters to the GEBE Advisory Board requesting a meeting and to date they have not replied and have so far refused to sit with the union to discuss matters pertaining to the general interest of the workers. Thompson said based on the union's conclusion, Mr. Julius Lambert has not left the decision making seat since he resigned from GEBE as the Managing Director. "In our opinion, Lambert has moved to a more authoritative position since he is on the Advisory Board and has the last word in the decision making for the company."He said right now based on how the management of GEBE is reacting there will be unavoidable industrial action on the island, this he said can happen as early as Thursday. The WIFOL President said he wants the public to know that the WIFOL will not negotiate a CLA and then not be able to sign it. He further explained that the workers of GEBE haven't had union representation for years now since the last CLA was signed with the NABLP over eight years ago. He said the WIFOL will be putting more pressure on the company to ensure that the CLA is signed.
Politicians Used the Working Class to get votes --- Thompson.
President of the WIFOL Theophillus Thompson said that some politicians have used the working class people to gather votes during the last election when they said they will stop the abuse of the short term labor contracts. Thompson said these politicians do not understand the use of the short term labor contract and the abuse of it. The WIFOL President said the companies on St. Maarten are no longer hiring workers and instead they are using Job Placement Agencies and they are the ones abusing the working class. Thompson said the agencies have a role to play in the job market and government should ensure they follow the letter of the law. "The role of these companies is to find workers for companies and it is the companies that have to hire the workers and pay their monthly premiums such as health insurance and pension."
Thompson went as far as saying that the employment agencies are taking the workers' salaries from the companies and sometimes don't pay the workers neither their premiums. When asked if he believes that some of these companies would pay the workers and their premiums before they are being paid by the companies, Thompson said he does not think for one minute that any of the agencies that exist on St. Maarten would pay workers and their premiums before being paid by the companies they provide workers for.
