KRALENDIJK- According to waste processor Selibon, it will take a Court Case to put an end to the strike that has been crippling the Waste Management Company since Monday.

A petition for the lawsuit has since been filed, but no date has yet been set for the parties to be heard. According to the petition filed by attorney P.A. van Hout, Selibon’s business operations are disproportionately affected by the strike, while there is no dispute as referred to in the Collective Labor Agreement between the public company and the trade union AFBW.

Chairman of the AFBW, Cherrel Kwidama, again repeats the grievances on the part of the employees in conversation with Bonaire.nu on Tuesday evening. “The measure is full for the employees. There has been an acute shortage of equipment for some time. Not only does this mean that you cannot work properly; there are also dangerous situations on the work floor due to inadequate equipment”.

The trade unionist also believes that the Holding and the Public Entity should intervene. “There is an urgent need for a baseline measurement within the company to objectively determine exactly what the situation is and how the situation can be turned around for the better. The employees – and we with them – are also dissatisfied with the way the company is run. I would describe it as dictatorial. Employees are treated badly and every week it rains warning letters. There is now a dilapidated atmosphere.”

Financial challenges

Kwidama indicates that Selibon has serious financial problems. “We are not blind to that, but something needs to be done now. Thanks to the fact that we as a union have insisted on this, the rates were finally increased a few months ago after more than twenty years. But apparently there is still no money for new equipment”. A promised reinforcement in the form of a second-hand garbage collection truck never arrived on the island. The company would currently only have a single truck for the garbage collection service, but that too is in a deplorable state.

The striking employees were visited yesterday by the three deputies of the Public Entity. “They listened sympathetically to the employees and show understanding. But what are they doing about it”, Kwidama wonders aloud. The trade unionist fears that the Executive Council and the Holding, as a direct shareholder, do not have the courage to intervene to put things in order within the public limited company; something that, according to Kwidama, is long overdue.

ABC Online Media approached Management of Selibon for their view on the situation, but has not received a reaction so far.