Directors’ licences still
reason for much debate
PHILIPSBURG--Business and directors’ licences were again the reason for hours of debate in the Island Council on Monday. The Executive Council requested the support of the Island Council to deny issuance of directors’ and business licences in two separate cases.
Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams repeatedly stated that in both cases it was clear that foreigners had applied for business and directors’ licences to circumvent the existing laws on obtaining residence permits in St. Maarten.
However, opposition party National Alliance strongly believed the Democratic Party-led Executive Council had radically changed its policy and started to deny licences because persons on the local labour market could not speak English sufficiently, did not have the requirements to hold certain jobs, or were not allowed to change jobs or employers.
Labour Affairs Commissioner Louie Laveist stated that St. Maarten wasn’t a banana republic, as the opposition tried to portray. He explained to the members of the Island Council that there were laws regulating employment of foreign workers on the island.
The Executive Council presented two proposals for the Island Council to approve. They concerned rejection of directors’ licences for Killer Diaz Villegas and Jaime Cisneros Flores.
In both cases, Wescot-Williams said it was clear that they were trying to use the directors’ licences to circumvent the laws on work and residence permits and were trying to obtain permanent residence in St. Maarten.
She said Diaz Villegas had applied for a work permit in 2001, but it had been rejected in January 2003. Diaz Villegas did not appeal this decision and, with two other persons, requested a business licence in February 2005 to establish the construction company for which they had been working since 2003. Based on this, Diaz Villegas requested a director’s licence as well.
Wescot-Williams said government very much believed that Diaz Villegas still was a worker for the company and was trying to use the director’s licence to circumvent existing laws on work and residence permits.
In the case of Jaime Cisneros Flores, who was working as a bartender, she said he had had been promoted from employee to manager. At that point, his work and residence permits were not extended. He too did not appeal that decision.
“Afterwards Cisneros Flores was promoted to director and applied for a director’s licence. Again the intention was clearly to use the director’s licence to circumvent our laws,” Wescot-Williams said.
She Commissioner stated finally that the Executive Council believed a policy had to be developed on the criteria for applying for licences and permits, in addition to the law regulating work and residence permits.
However, members of opposition party National Alliance believed government was punishing foreign workers who had been part of the local labour market for either not being able to speak English sufficiently or having a changed relationship with their employer in the sense of having been promoted.
Both Councilmen George Pantophlet and Rodolphe Samuel criticised government’s policy and said that apparently workers were not allowed to advance; if they did, their permits would be rejected. Samuel said these issues had never been raised under the former Commissioner of Economic Affairs and the policy now had changed, confusing matters.
He also said the message the Executive Council was sending out to the public wasn’t clear and that government would be judging if someone had the qualifications to run his or her own business.
Laveist stated in reaction that when a foreign worker was brought to the island to work, according to the law, it was for a specific type of work. “When a bartender wants to become a cashier, the process starts all over again. It has to be checked whether there are no local cashiers available on the market before the foreign worker can be taken into service,” Laveist said.
He added that there was a moratorium on certain jobs such as bartenders and waiters, meaning that no foreign worker should be accepted in those jobs.
A majority of the Island Council supported the Executive Council’s decision not to grant the directors’ licences. NA voted against the proposals and cited as the motive behind its vote that the Island Council had not received all relevant information to make a responsible decision.
