The process in Willemstad of sending job offers to employees of both the Central Government and the Island Territory so they can enter into service of the new administration of future Country Curaçao – in light of the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles – is not going without problems (see related story). Not all the letters were received on August 10 as promised and there was also confusion over the content in some cases, prompting a group of civil servants to take their case directly to the Antillean Council of Ministers.

In Philipsburg the situation is even worse. No job letters have yet been sent out at all, while the amended Social Charter agreed on with the unions last week to provide the necessary safeguards during the personnel transfer to the new administration of Country St. Maarten is yet to be approved by the Island Council.

The latter had already been done in Curaçao the day after the agreement was signed, so the process of sending the job offers out could at least begin. With more than 4,000 workers involved there, it is no wonder there are still some problems and that's the reason an appeal committee was established in the first place.

Apart from the fact that St. Maarten is clearly behind schedule when it comes to this important issue, the persons involved have not even been given any information as to the state of affairs. After all, the intention was always to send out the job letters on both islands at the same time.

The very least the Executive Council could have done is announce that it would no longer make the August 10 deadline and explain why. Coupled with the frequent cancelling for lack of a quorum of Island Council meetings where the Social Charter and other matters related to the constitutional changes are to be discussed, civil servants understandably feel left in the dark and are becoming concerned.

So far, only the Curaçao-based ABVO union has announced it will request clarity on the pending job letters for its members in St. Maarten. By contrast, the local Windward Islands Civil Servants Union/Private Sector Union (WICSU/PSU) has been notably quiet on the issue, apart from stating that it foresees no problems with the transfer of its members and suggesting that some "playing politics with it" can be expected.

While the latter indeed may be the case ahead of the September 17 elections, it is certainly serious business and involves not only the future of hundreds of workers and their families, but provision of government services to the general public as well. Considering also that the civil servants have 30 days to accept their offer, any further delay in this matter is simply unacceptable.