Reluctance against salaries of half a million in state-owned companies

WILLEMSTAD - In Curaçao, the aversion to high-paying directors of state-owned companies who, despite the rampant poverty on the island, rake in salaries of up to three times the salary of the Prime Minister.

With the lockdown due to the corona pandemic, Curaçao's tourism income evaporated, thousands lost their jobs. To save public finances, civil servants such as educators and garbage collectors had to cut 12.5 percent on their fringe benefits. Those are not exactly the widest shoulders on the island.

SOLIDARITY

"Out of solidarity in this crisis, the people who earn the most should contribute much more," said Secretary Gregory Wilson of the General Union of Government Employees (ABVO). The union director does not think annual salaries of more than a million Antillean guilders (approximately 500,000 dollars) on an island of 160,000 inhabitants is acceptable."

It was a shock when the pay slips of some government-affiliated companies leaked last year. A top executive of telecom company UTS was shown to take home 1.1 million guilders, about 40,000 dollars per month. A director of the Social Insurance Bank recieves almost the same amount. Directors of energy company Curoil and utility company Aqualectra also receive top salaries.

ANGER

The rage two weeks ago during a protest at Fort Amsterdam was also partly aimed at this enrichment "What are you going to do with 80,000 guilders per month?" Said a protester to a local media. "And then they will tell the people to accept austerity measures? That is serious.” The protest was followed by looting and arson.

In conversation with a Dutch media, Minister Hensley Koeiman of Social Affairs says that the island government is working on a Rhuggenaath standard for top salaries. Senior officials may soon earn no more than 130% of a minister's salary, which is about 12,000 guilders or 6,000 dollars per month. In connection with the corona crisis, ministers decided to cut a quarter of their salary.

TWO TRACKS

Koeiman: "We want to regulate that Rhuggenaath standard along two lines: through legislation and through the supervisory boards of these government companies." It will probably not go without a fight. After all, these are contracts signed and approved by previous ministers. Nothing prevents concerned directors from defending their generous incomes in court.

However, the members of the board of directors cannot count on the support of the civil servants' union ABVO. Wilson: "We don't represent them. They have negotiated their own terms of employment themselves.”

Incidentally, not only top positions at state-owned companies are paid royally. The other staff also enjoy salaries and additional conditions that far exceed the average income of civil servants. This is evident from an April publication of accountancy firm Deloitte Dutch Caribbean. Deloitte therefore recommends that the entire salary file be brought more into line with ordinary employees in the public service.

SPECTACULAR

Until the Rhuggenaath standard has been introduced, income differences within the Curaçao government remain spectacular. A primary school teacher earns between 3600 and 5600 guilders per month. Now they must accept a 12.5 percent cut. The leaked income of the top of the Social Insurance Bank is twenty times higher.




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