~ submits a counterproposal for approval ~
On Tuesday March 26th 2019, the Committee of Civil Servants Unions (CCSU), formally known as the GOA submitted a counterproposal to the draft amendment to the National decree on remuneration for civil servants to the honorable Minister of General Affairs, Mrs. Leona Romeo-Marlin. The CCSU informed the Prime Minister that the CCSU “could not approve the draft amendments to the National decree on remuneration for civil servants as submitted.” The members of CCSU are of the opinion that both the current Remuneration decree and the draft amendment proposed by Government do not do justice to civil servants. In particular, were it pertains to the “aanloopschaal”, the remuneration criteria when being promoted and child allowance. Both the Wicsu-psu and the Witu are of the opinion that the benefits are outdated and do not reflect the current Sint Maarten economy and labor market.
Based on article 112h of the “Landsverordening materieel ambtenarenrecht” (Lma), the CCSU has to provide its approval on any matter pertaining to changes to the remuneration rules for civil servants.
The CCSU received a draft amendment document to review and approve on October 16th 2018. The CCSU members held a number of consultation meetings with government in October and November of last year in an effort to seek clarity as to the reasons for the proposed changes and also discuss their discontent with the different challenges civil servants are experiencing with the current rules on remuneration.
After the sessions with government, the Wicsu-psu union (one of the two union members of the CCSU) organized sessions with their members to discuss the amendments proposed by government. The Witu encouraged their members to take part in these sessions. Throughout the sessions members got the opportunity to express their opinions. The main view coming from these discussions was that the rules were outdated and unfair considering Sint Maarten’s current economy.
The Wicsu-psu submitted in January 2019 a counterproposal to the amendments to the CCSU for approval. The Wicsu-psu and the Witu approved the counterproposal on March 19th 2019.
In its counterproposal, the CCSU proposes a number of amendments to the National decree on remuneration for civil servants. Two important counterproposals are: the increase of the child allowance and the introduction of a minimum salary promotion for candidates when applying for positions internally.