Justice Ministry employees gathered at the entrance of the Government Administration Building on Wednesday, listening to a WICSU representative (centre), after yet another union meeting had been held at the nearby Little League Stadium.
PHILIPSBURG--Unionised Justice Ministry employees continued to apply pressure on government on Wednesday, marching to the Government Administration Building in Philipsburg around 3:00pm, after yet another union meeting had been held at the nearby Little League Stadium.
The marching employees chanted the now familiar slogans, “Equal rights and justice”; “Enough is enough”; and “Workers’ rights are human rights” under the leadership of St. Maarten police union NAPB and Windward Islands Civil Servants Union (WICSU).
Workers said a letter had been sent a week ago to Justice Minister Anna Richardson, outlining their concerns and requesting a meeting, but that no response had yet been received.
The union leaders hope to be able to hold the meeting tomorrow, Friday.
Demands include long-awaited changes to the pay scale and the preparation of function books, while the more recent cost-cutting measures related to the new coronavirus pandemic such as the 12.5 per cent cuts to salaries, have only further added to the employees’ grievances.
“We need these issues to be fixed,” one protester from St. Maarten Police Force KPSM told The Daily Herald. “It has been 10 years; it is such a long time … we have to keep up the pressure. And it is not only about the money, we need new equipment, vests and uniforms,” he added. Several employees said that they felt disrespected, while the security of the island rests on their shoulders.
On their way to express concern
As this newspaper reported on Friday, July 10, the Justice Ministry announced that the first phase in preparing the function books had been completed, after about a year. Former Justice Minister Cornelius de Weever had contracted consultancy firm Balance to prepare them. Current Justice Minister Richardson held a meeting with Balance last week Wednesday for a presentation on the work done thus far.
“The second phase – the evaluation of job descriptions with the assigned salary scale – will be done by a workgroup comprising persons from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of General Affairs,” as explained in a Justice Ministry press release last week. The second phase is estimated to take two months. In total, there are three phases needed before the function books can be ratified into law. Richardson said that completing the function books is among her ministry’s top five priorities.
