Special church service.
WILLEMSTAD--The General Union for Government Personnel, ABVO, celebrated its 90th anniversary on Tuesday. According to current Chairman George Hernández, ninety years after its founding, the civil servant union is stronger than ever. “We are gaining more and more members. We are active in more sectors, and we offer our members more and more services.”
ABVO was officially established on April 14, 1936, by the late Moises Frumencio da Costa Gomez, Theo Krafft and C. Bablain de Verster. The name given to the new union was the General Curaçao Civil Servants' Union ACAB.
Union President George Hernández.
Now, nine decades later, Hernández observes that the initiators of 1936 laid a solid foundation. “And ninety years later, that foundation still stands firm. It is not often that an organisation, and certainly not a trade union, reaches ninety years of age.”
“Over the past nine decades, ABVO as an organisation has experienced all sorts of things. Good things, but also less good things. But we have learnt from our past.”
Over the years, they have witnessed new labour emerge from the ABVO ranks, according to the current chairman. He pointed, among other things, to the police union NAPB and STRAF, the union for customs and tax personnel.
“But despite everything, we still exist today and have grown larger. We are the largest union in the public sector and among government-owned companies and are active in numerous important sectors: the port, the airport and the courier sector. In many sectors, we are the largest union. But as Abvo, we are also active in the commercial/private sector. We are growing bigger and bigger,” Hernández added.
According to him, ABVO is presently in a growth phase. We are gaining more and more members. Not only in Curaçao, but also in Bonaire and St. Maarten. In Bonaire, we had 400 members, but we are now already at 600.
ABVO is more than a trade union, Hernández indicated. “That is the difference between us and other unions. In addition to defending your legal position, we also offer other services. And that makes the difference.”
“As a union, you have to offer that little extra. Last year, we launched our own digital app. We are now already collaborating with numerous companies via that app. We will also be offering our app on Bonaire this year. This is just one of the many innovations we will be offering in the future.”
Hernández said he has confidence in the future. “I see a brilliant future for ABVO. As a union, we are already dominant in various sectors, and we are growing.”
“We don’t do this by poaching members from other unions. That is not our business model. We choose to tap into new sectors where other unions are not active. That is where we see our future.”
Another sector where ABVO is becoming increasingly active is that of pensioners, according to Hernández. “Like Curaçao, we are currently dealing with an increasingly ageing population. More and more pensioners are choosing to join us.”
“Of the 700 civil servants who signed up for the VVU early retirement scheme, about 500 have now become members. Because we represent such a large group as an organisation, we believe that we, as a union, must also make our voice heard when the interests of pensioners are at stake.”
In this context, the chairman referred to a recent letter ABVO sent to the government on behalf of retired members, in which it urges that the annual indexation of the AOV old-age pension be made dependent solely on the rise in the cost of living on the island. “As ABVO, we have a role to play in this debate,” said Hernández.
The first name the organisation was given in 1936 was “Algemene Curaçaosche Ambtenaren Bond” (ACAB). The union aimed to defend the rights and interests of government personnel throughout the entire Netherlands Antilles.
In 1940, ACAB was replaced by “Algemene Nederlands-Antilliaanse Ambtenaren Bond” (ANAAB), with branches in Curaçao and Aruba. The new name ABVO (“Algemene Bond Voor Overheidspersoneel”) was used for the first time on January 1, 1968.
ABVO Secretary in charge of Civil Service Affairs Raymond Margaritha is proud that the union is celebrating its 90th anniversary. He pointed out that ABVO has always remained a consistent organisation throughout its ninety-year existence.
“No other trade union invests in the formation and education of members like we do. This makes us unique as an organisation, because no one else does that or is capable of doing so.
“We also have all the necessary expertise in-house. We have experienced (former) board members we can call upon, such as Roland ‘Nacho’ Ignacio, Adrie Williams and Wendy Calmes. They each possess a wealth of knowledge and experience.”
