Court employees' time for reflection is over

April 28, 2011 3:49 PM

ORANJESTAD — According to the judge, there are still negotiations as to when the employees on Aruba are to make a choice in switching over to the new Court before the end of this year.

Since January 1st 2011, the employees have made available to the Court while retaining their current job (in the pay of the Aruban government). The employees find they should be given more time for reflection, but the judge rejected this request last Wednesday.

The new Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and Bonaire (the Court) was established on 10-10-2010. Minister of Justice, Arthur Dowers (AVP) informed the court employees of Aruba on December 7th that they were given one year to consider this new position. Dowers’ announcement was concretized in a National Order, stating that the employees would be made available to the Court as of January 1st 2011 for a one-year period, while retaining their current legal position. Within that year, they were to make a choice to either work for the Court or work for the Aruban government.
However, according to the employees, they cannot choose because the given choices are still unclear. They are not satisfied with the terms of employment offered by the Court because these are even worse than their current terms in the pay of the Aruban government. Therefore, they demand a longer time for reflection than one year and that the latter should take effect once the choices they can choose from becomes clear.

However, the judge rejected this request last Wednesday. In a press statement, the judge states he could only pass judgment if there’s a question of a disadvantage for those who had instituted the court proceedings. However, the judge does not see the disadvantage in this case. In the press statement, the judge states that the employment position of the employees does not change until the end of this year. They retain their current legal position even though they are currently working for the Court. Moreover, according to the judge, consultations are still in progress on the legal position that the Aruban employees could obtain at the Court. In addition, according to the press statement, the establishment of the Court occurred simultaneously with that of an Administration Council. This Council is currently working on this legal position. According to the judge, this means that although much is not concrete just yet, there is most certainly attention for the problem. That’s why one ‘cannot say now’ there’s a question of a disadvantage for the employees, which explains why the judge cannot pass judgment in this case, according to the press statement.

In view of the aforementioned, the group of employees had lost the court case last Wednesday that they had instituted against the Minister of Justice, Arthur Dowers (AVP).

(Source: Newspaper Amigoe)

27 April 2011