In a letter sent to the Ministers of General Affairs of Aruba, Curacao and St Maarten as well as the TWO/COHO organization and Dutch Government representative on November 29th, employer platforms AHATA, ATIA, EC and VBC have shared their concerns pertaining to consultation of the private sector in the COHO reform processes. The pending reforms were agreed to by The Netherlands and the islands in exchange for liquidity support. The employer associations agree with the objectives of these reforms, however, are concerned about achieving proper action plans and implementation to minimize the negative effect on the communities.
The associations appeal to the four governments to make better use of expertise and input of the private sectors of the three islands, citing both local and international stipulations, such as the “Aanwijzingen voor de regelgeving” and ILO convention 144.
In the letter, the four associations point to the current “haphazard” consultation of the entities and offer assistance in making the reforms a success. To the Netherlands a special reference is made pertaining to its famed “poldermodel”, underlining the importance of social dialogue between social partners to improve policy making. This practice is not being applied consistently and structurally in the current COHO process, regardless of its impact, pertaining to its policies within the Kingdom itself. The respective private sectors argue that involving the private sectors more will lead to better policy outcomes and call for more structural involvement.
The latest political twist on December 17, whereby the Kingdom Council of Ministers did not take a decision to provide additional liquidity support or to allow deviations from the budget norm, only makes matters more dire. It furthermore does not contribute to the confidence and stability, so much needed by local and foreign investors to propel investments into our economy. This, combined with the real threat of the Omicron variant’s effect on our economy, is a sure recipe for disaster. An additional threat to the community is the recent increase in prices due to logistical issues on a global level. In short, the combination of no liquidity, Omicron surge, economic downturn and rising inflation is an extremely worrisome scenario, which will also have serious consequences for the social situation on the islands. Our communities are impoverishing at a very fast pace and the only way out is economic growth to create jobs and a better perspective for the future. Some even consider it an irresponsible act by the governments to end this year in such uncertainty. Therefore, an urgent appeal is made to the governments of the islands and the Netherlands to remove this uncertainty before the end of this year. The communities of the islands expect and deserve better than to start a new year under such circumstances.
Not only as employer organizations, but also as concerned citizens and based on the above, we would recommend the respective governments to apply an inclusive approach by involving the respective private sectors more structurally in the ongoing reform process and discussions.
AHATA and ATIA are the largest business associations of Aruba. The EC represents the four employer associations of St Maarten. VBC is the platform of 23 business associations from Curacao.