Unions deem meeting
with Dick as successful
~ Minister scheduled to return end of the month ~
PHILIPSBURG--The meeting between Justice Minister David Dick and the civil servant unions representing the prison guards at the Pointe Blanche prison ABVO and WICSU was a success, according to ABVO representative at the Pointe Blanche prison in St. Maarten Randall Salome’s statement to The Daily Herald after yesterday’s lengthy meeting. “It proves once again that concrete things can be accomplished at the negotiating table,” Salome said.
The meeting started at 10:15am and lasted well into the afternoon. Salome said that concrete agreements were made. WICSU president William Reed was also positive about the outcome of the meeting.
A tentative date of May 25 has been set for Dick to return to finalize certain agreements made yesterday. Both Salome and Reed said that when the Minister returns he will be accompanied by civil servants of the personnel departments to deal with several issues that have been pending for years regarding promotions of prison guards.
Dick in addition promised the unions that the process of function evaluation of all prison guards will be completed by the beginning of July. Concerning all the other issues the union tabled such as recruiting more personnel, upgrading of the prison guards, better safety measures at the prison, and programmes dedicated to the correction of inmates, Salome said that the Minister indicated that changes were ahead.
“Dick gave the green light concerning improved safety measures at the prison. There is a concrete plan how to recruit more prison guards and the upgrading of the personnel will also be dealt with. It will be a combined effort of the unions, prison management and the Minister,” Salome said.
He lauded the Minister for the way the meeting went and pointed out that the moment has come to start to implement concrete measures at the prison to the benefit of the inmates, the prison guards, the institution and the community in its entirety.
Reed too expressed admiration for the way the meeting developed. “The meeting was frank and sometimes even tough, but we handled the problems with the Pointe Blanche prison.
He pointed out that during the negotiations he had kept in mind that, after the unions had gone on a nine-day strike, the prison guards had been paid in full at the end of the month. “Also when proposals were forwarded for dismissal of certain prison guards, the Minister had rejected them. I respect all that he has done till now and when I negotiate with him I keep all these things in mind,” Reed said.
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