PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Friday, April 14, 2023, the entire Council of Ministers of the Government of Sint Maarten, including the Honorable Minister of Justice Anna E. Richardson and the Prime Minister, Honorable Ms. Jacobs, held a meeting with the board members of the NAPB assisted by their legal advisor Cor Merx.
The gettering took place in the Governments Building under the – excellent- chairmanship of the Honorable Prime Minster Jacobs.
The meeting was called into existence to find solutions for the current situation the police workers are facing.
The topics that were covered include amongst other things:
- Placement letters
- Backlog payments
- Overtime
- Salary scaling according the index of 16.3% and 3.2%
After a successful 2.5 hours long conversation, both parties left the table with a feeling of optimism.
The discussion went very fruitfully respecting each other’s point of view and sometimes very detailed.
The issues that were in the media for the last two weeks have been solved in good faith and trust.
Most importantly, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for the police workers, as both parties have expressed their intent to work together and bring this matter to an end.
Although there was not a final solution on that Friday the Council of Ministers -via Minister of Justice Honorable Ms. Anna Richardson came with another proposal on Saturday morning April 15th.
After a meeting was held about the proposal of the Minister, the members agreed conditionally with the next proposal of the Minister of Justice.
The proposal from the Minister of Justice is exposed in her press release from Friday April 14th 2023 and is very extended.
As a consequence of the results of this last meeting, the police workers are willing to end the “slow-down” and are willing to work “over hours” during Carnival to make this the festive and safe event it is supposed to be.
They consider having the next meeting with the remaining points on Friday April 21st at 2 PM.
