Dick fails to meet deadline,
unions considering action
PHILIPSBURG--Justice Minister David Dick has not responded to issues raised by Civil Servants Union ABVO on the appointment of Ronald Dongor as the new Interim Coach for the Police Force of St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba.
The unions ABVO, NAPB and WICSU will be deliberating on what further steps to take on the matter.
ABVO had demanded an explanation from Dick as to the reason the new Interim Coach to help upgrade the Police Force of St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius had received epaulettes indicating he had been appointed to the rank of Police Chief Commissioner, contrary to the accords of the Win-Win Agreement (WWA) signed on March 31.
In a May 6 letter to the Dick, the union stated that the Minister had a deadline until May 12 to answer.
“We have not received an answer from the Minister,” Ignacio told The Daily Herald Monday evening. He said the Minister had shown once again that he had no respect for unions and the workers. “This makes us believe that he made a separate agreement with Dongor beside the WWA,” Ignacio said.
According to the WWA, the Interim Coach would not be appointed to a rank higher in hierarchy than the head of the Police Force, who has the rank of Police Commissioner. According to the union, this does not take into consideration Derrick Holiday, the suspended head of the Police Force, who has the rank of Chief Commissioner.
Dick refuted the allegations as being not true. He said the rank of Police Chief Commissioner did not exist within the new legal structure of the Police Force.
“Persons of bad faith have been feeding the union with wrong information. After the process of reorganising the Police Force, the rank of Police Chief Commissioner was eliminated,” he said. “Only some officers who already had such a rank under the old legal structure were allowed to walk around with epaulettes indicating they were Police Chief Commissioners, but in reality they did not have that rank, because it does not exist.”
Ignacio said the Minister had not put these comments in writing in an answer to the unions. He said he would be contacting the other unions and their members to decide what the next step would be.
The May 6 letter was also sent to the Justice Committee of Parliament, the Executive Council of St. Maarten, the Council of Heads of Police, the Council of Ministers and the Lt. Governors of St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba.
Ignacio said he had not heard from any of these entities or persons either and assumed that they too approved of Dick’s actions. “This will have consequences for the WWA,” he said, indicating that if the union members indicated they did not agree with what had taken place, a plan of action would be drafted on the matter.
