Employer Council proposes Candidates SER

PHILIPSBURG -- The Employer Council St. Maarten has submitted six employer representative candidates for the next Social Economic Council (SER). The Employer Council hopes to speed up the appointment process of the new SER term, which it considers to be of great value in the current socio-economic crisis. Previously nominations were submitted in January for the term 2020-2023, these were to be appointed April 30^th.  The appointment process was halted on April 21^st by government, and one week later, in the midst of the Pandemic, the sitting SER appointments expired. Since April, country St. Maarten has been without one of its high councils of state. The Employer Council considers this very unfortunate. The ongoing socio-economic crisis makes a fully functioning SER with a recognized representation extremely important. The SER is a key body in providing independent solicited and unsolicited advice to government on social and economic issues; which would include issues such as the SSRP, and the imposed salary reductions. Our current socio-economic predicament has us facing a new set of challenges, that require broadly supported tripartite solutions with consensus toward those solutions rather than creating more conflicts. The SER should consist of nine (9) permanent members; three independent members proposed by Government, three delegates proposed by the Unions as employee representatives, and three delegates appointed by Employer associations. The organizations representing the employers and employees should be recognized representatives of such (“op schriftelijke voordracht van representatieve organisaties”). All nine permanent members have a substitute member bringing the total appointees for the employers’ representatives to 6. The Employer Council consists of all four ILO recognized employer associations on St. Maarten: the St Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA), Sint Maarten Timeshare Association (SMTA) the Indian Merchants Association (IMA) and the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA).