SMCU will not entertain renegotiation with interim manager of GEBE

clagebe09122020

~NAF 225.296 is the difference in new CLA~

PHILIPSBURG:--- President of the St. Maarten Telecommunications Union (SMCU) Ludson Evers said on Wednesday that the SMCU will not entertain any further negotiations with the interim manager of GEBE Sharine Daniel. Evers said the Collective Labor Agreement for GEBE workers expired in 2013. He said those workers have been without a CLA for 7 straight years and have not received any remuneration during the 7 years period. Evers said that negotiations with the former managements began in 2016, then the negotiations halted for a period of one year due to the passing of hurricane Irma. “Negotiations went on for 3 years and the negotiations have been finalized by the former managing board. The signing off the CLA was held back by the now-ousted chair of NV GEBE Bienvenido Richardson.
Evers said the interim director said in her press statement that she needed to conduct a financial review to safeguard the financial health of the company yet she is making sure she gets what she wants even after signing off on an agreement with the Supervisory Board of Directors. Evers said that after 7 years of waiting the difference between the last CLA and the new one there is a total difference of NAF 225.296. He asked if the workers do not deserve a little bit of the profit the company pocketed over the years.
In the meantime, Daniel began holding information meetings with the staff as of today Wednesday at the Belair Community Center. These information sessions for the employees will last until Friday, December 11th, 2020.