Boat owners consider strike

“Members of the Association of Boatmen of the Commewijne District (VBDC) will stop sailing on several routes from Wednesday,” Commissioner Krishnadath Gopal told Times of Suriname.

The boat owners have not yet received any subsidy for 2018. The board members of the VBDC have recently been told by the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communication that the government will no longer pay fuel compensation to the boat owners. Gopal further states that in 2017 the then chairman of the VBDC, Michel Nathoe, signed a declaration of intent with the then Minister of Public Works Transport and Communications, Jerry Miranda. This declaration states that the association agrees to stopping the payment of the fuel compensation to the boat owners. Nathoe reportedly acted independently in this situation and failed to consult with the boat owners before signing this declaration. As a result, the boat owners were not aware of this declaration.

The association now has a different board and Gopal explained that union officials were shocked when they were confronted with this declaration. A man whose boats ferries people on the Meerzorg-Paramaribo route indicated that he and his colleagues barely make ends meet with a fare of SRD 1.75 per person. He explained that each boat consumes about 25 liters of petrol per day and that the costs are hardly recovered, because one liter of petrol now costs almost SRD 7. And then there is the maintenance of the engine, boat and buying the oil mixture. The commissioner made it clear that the boat fare should be SRD 3.80 per person. He hopes that the government will pay out the overdue fuel compensation, because the boat owners can hardly stay afloat. The union official made it clear that if the government does not pay out the compensation, the boat owners will take action on Wednesday.