SMCU undermining the good
work being done at TelEm
PHILIPSBURG--President Director of the TelEm Group Edward Benjamin says the St. Maarten Communications Union (SMCU) is undermining the good work being carried out by many persons at the phone company. In a letter to the editor responding to an article published on page three of Thursday’s issue headlined “Union calls on government to keep a close eye on TelEm,” Benjamin also said the company should have been given the opportunity to respond.
“This pattern of running to the media to report matters that are taken wholly out of context is a tried and tested tactic of the SMCU that does nothing for the integrity of your good publication and only serves to undermine the good work that is being carried out by many people within the TelEm Group in trying and competitive times, in order to make these companies viable,” Benjamin said.
“It is not my intention to justify inaccurate comments with a dignified response. The TelEm shareholder and Board would be remiss in their duty if they did not, as the union states: ‘Keep a close eye on TelEm.’ Such an action is exactly what management welcomes and publicly encourages at all times.”
He said too: “To my mind, it is only fair that, should an accusation be made against one party, that party should be afforded the opportunity to respond directly to the accusations being made at the time the accusations are being made rather than later, or the next day, when aspersions have already been cast and damage done.”
He said the TelEm Group continues to make available to the media all the contact numbers of its officials and has a Communication Officer in place to entertain such calls at all hours.
In the SMCU release on Wednesday, the union called on government and the Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards to keep a close eye on TelEm and questioned management’s assertion that the company made losses in 2006. The union also chided management for failing to adhere to its request to meet with the workers to update them on several issues.
