Dear Editor,
As much as he tries, MP and former VSA Minister Cornelius V. H. de Weever will never be able to convince anyone that the reason for his defection from the Red-White-Blue coalition in 2014, had something to do with opposition he encountered back then to "his" counterpart law.
While this is far from the truth to begin with, the MP has failed, up to this day, to show any tangible results from enforcing this policy as he claimed he and his new allies would.
The MP seemed hell bent on forcing through this policy unilaterally, which approach is doomed to fail and rather than get the private sector on board, would have created a rift which the country can ill-afford. Forcing any business to hire because "government says so," is a sure recipe for lay-offs and unemployment.
Luckily for all of us those in the know are quietly, yet effectively, approaching the matter of employment in the only manner it will really work and that is through partnership. The Democratic Party reiterates its position on this matter, namely that only through concerted efforts between labour and business will we see more of our people employed in careers of their choice, and for those who seek such mobility in the labour market, in other words new job opportunities.
In this context, the initiative by the Labour Department via their Start Here programme, coupled with their support for the SHTA job fair and business initiatives such as those of the Maho Group of Companies, is the way to go if we are serious about placing more of our people in positions throughout St. Maarten.
We applaud these initiatives and look forward to receiving the data collected showing the results of these endeavours. We encourage the government departments and organizers of these job fairs to collate their information and provide a true picture of the vacancies on one hand and the employment seekers on the other hand. Any mismatch between these two should be solid indicators for institutions such as USM and NIPA.
Finally, if our students abroad can also be brought into the loop we would have come full circle.
Democratic Party of St. Maarten
