The WIFOL Building.
PHILIPSBURG--Members of the Workers Institute for Organized Labor (WIFOL) will move to convene a Congress and elect a new Board after accusing President Theophilus Thompson of refusing to hold a Congress for more than a decade, failing to hold Board elections, and not providing financial accountability to the union's membership.
Thompson could not be reached for comment. The move follows what WIFOL co-founder René Richardson described as years of unanswered correspondence and what members allege are repeated violations of the union's Constitution.
"The members are not getting any representation from the illegal President Thompson," Richardson told “The Daily Herald” on Thursday.
Richardson said members have asked him, as co-founder and a member for life of WIFOL, to intervene on their behalf. He also revealed that an official criminal complaint has been filed with the Public Prosecutor against Thompson.
According to Richardson, members have repeatedly attempted to resolve the matter through correspondence but have received no response. "We have written many letters to Thompson, but he never responded," he said. Richardson said the union can no longer continue without a Congress and one will be called as soon as possible. He said Thompson has refused to convene the union's highest decision-making body despite repeated requests from members.
Richardson said members intend to rely on the organisation's Constitution to move forward. “Based on Article 10, paragraphs 5 and 6, of the Constitution, we can call the Congress to elect a new Board."
Richardson reactivated WIFOL in 1977 and is now the only surviving co-founder. He pointed to a Chamber of Commerce extract showing the last registered changes in November 2013 and highlighted what he described as a name change made by Thompson to "Workers Institute For Organized Labor.”
The allegations are outlined in a letter to Thompson by members dated March 25, 2026.
In the letter, members accuse Thompson of violating several provisions of the organisation's Articles of Incorporation. The first allegation concerns Article 10, which requires that at least one general meeting of members be held every year no later than the first working day of June.
According to the letter, those meetings are constitutionally required to include a report from the Board on the affairs of the association, presentation and approval of financial statements, the Audit Committee's report, the filling of Board vacancies and the appointment of a new Audit Committee.
The members allege that no such meeting has been held for more than 10 years. "This is not a technical omission. It is a systematic and sustained suppression of the membership's constitutional rights," the letter states.
The members argue that Thompson's failure to convene annual meetings has denied members their right to receive financial reports, review the conduct of management and participate in the governance of their own organisation.
The letter also alleges violations of Articles 12 and 13 of the Articles of Incorporation. According to the members, Board members are elected for two-year terms and Thompson's last elected mandate dates back to the General Meeting of November 14, 2013.
The members state that his mandate expired no later than November 2015 and that no general meeting has been held since then to elect a new Board. "You have accordingly been purporting to act as President of this Association for more than ten years beyond the expiry of your electoral mandate."
The letter argues that members have been deprived of their constitutional right to elect their Board and says Thompson has continued exercising authority "without any democratic mandate or accountability whatsoever."
The members further contend that because no lawful elections have taken place since 2013, the current distribution of Board functions lacks constitutional authority.
According to the letter, "Any decisions, agreements, contracts, financial transactions, or other acts purportedly taken on behalf of the Association during this period are of doubtful legal validity and may be subject to challenge."
The members are also demanding a complete accounting of WIFOL's finances. They allege that annual financial statements required under Article 10 have not been presented for more than a decade.
The letter states that members have therefore been denied visibility into the association's financial affairs during that period. The members are demanding complete annual financial statements, balance sheets, profit and loss accounts, explanatory notes, audit reports, bank statements and records of all income and expenditures from the period when Thompson assumed the presidency "in or about 1985" as well as from November 2013 to the present.
The letter demands that a general Congress be announced and held within 30 days in accordance with Article 10, that a constitutionally compliant election process be established for a new Board, that Thompson provide written reasons for failing to hold annual meetings and Board elections for more than 10 years, that complete verified financial statements be presented for the requested periods, and that he provide written confirmation that he will comply with the Articles of Incorporation and the Civil Code of Sint Maarten. Thompson has not responded to the letter.
The letter warns that if those demands are not met, members will pursue all available legal and institutional remedies, including legal proceedings, complaints to labour authorities and regulatory bodies, and exercising their constitutional right under Article 10(6) to convene a general meeting themselves.
The dispute continued with a second letter dated May 7, 2026, in which at least 10 ordinary members formally requested a Special General Meeting under Article 10, paragraph 5 of the Articles of Incorporation.
The proposed agenda includes the election of Board members and a review of the union's current operations as well as the disclosure of all financial statements by the current board, whether the board is illegal or not. The members requested that the Board convene the meeting within two weeks as required by the Constitution.
They further advised that if the Board failed to do so, they would exercise their right under Article 10, paragraph 6 to convene the Special General Meeting themselves and proceed with electing a new Board. Thompson has not responded to the correspondence.
