AMID reports that Customs Officers are growing increasingly concerned about the impending formation of a Border Control Agency and the manner in which that could potentially impact their jobs, National Security Minister Hermangild Francis sought to allay those fears.
One day after Customs Officers met with their union to discuss their concerns, the minister sought to allay their fears, saying government has had discussions with the relevant stakeholders concerning the matter.
General Secretary of the Saint Lucia Civil Service Association (CSA) Claude Paul confirmed earlier this week that the union had received a number of queries from members, mostly belonging to the Customs Department, about the proposed new agency.
Paul explained that the CSA is “a worker representative body” and “if workers have concerns, it is duty bound to listen to those concerns.”
Speaking ahead of a meeting the union held Tuesday with Customs Officers, Paul said the workers have these concerns and called on the union to meet with them and to engage government for information and the clarity.
According to Paul, himself a former Comptroller of Customs, “The issue is one of job security, as well as one of trust and credibility”
He explained, “In the past, the same government would have said that no jobs would be lost, but we saw what happened with Radio Saint Lucia; and before that, the tourist board; and there are other entities that have been targeted where we have members, like the Marketing Board, the Printery, the Post Office.”
Paul asserted that there is “an air of uncertainty and concern,” adding that “When people are told that they may have to reapply for their jobs, there will be concerns.”
In February, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet said no one will be fired when the new border control body is created.
But despite that assurance, the Customs Officers are not all that comfortable and the minister addressed their concerns.
According to Francis: “From Day One when we came in as a government, we articulated that we are going to be proceeding with a Border Control System; and we said which departments would have been part and parcel of that system — Customs, the Immigration Department of the Police Force, the Marine Unit and the Quarantine Division of the Ministry of Agriculture.”
Minister Francis, speaking on Wednesday, also addressed rumours that a certain individual has already been hand-picked to head the new agency.
While conceding that an individual is leading the transitional process in the interim, the minister assured that “someone else will be chosen” to eventually lead the department,when it gets up and running.
Francis told The VOICE, most emphatically, “I’m hearing certain fears that a particular individual is going to be coming to head the entity, and so on… And all I can tell you that this is not so — this is far from the truth.”
He also assured that a decision regarding the eventual head of the agency has not yet been made, but given the experience of the individual in question, he is being utilised in the interim, given his prior experience as a top customs officer.
“We have not made any decision as to who’s going to head the department…” Francis repeated.
Without mentioning any names or otherwise identifying the individual whose name is being mentioned, the minister added: “We’ve decided that government is paying him—and we’ll use his expertise as a past customs officer to look into heading that committee for the time being.”
Francis further explained that “Eventually, when his recommendations come to us, we will make a decision as to the way forward — and at that time somebody will be identified to be the head of the organisation.”
To put the matter to rest, the minster told The VOICE, “But whoever is suggesting that is this particular individual, I think they can rest assured that that will not happen.”
