About the Social and Economic Council

Introduction

The Social and Economic Council has been active since February 1st, 1966. The goal of its foundation was to create a forum where the Government could discuss those new policy measures that would have social and economical consequences. Throughout the years, several adjustments were made to the council’s tasks, structure and procedures, but its fundamental nature has remained unchanged.

The most recent change came into effect on September 1st 1996 and concerned the procedure for making the council’s recommendations public. The National Ordinance on Transparency of the Government (PB 1995, no. 211, art 10) decrees that SER advice should be made public by the Minister of General Affairs, simultaneously with the submission of the draft to Parliament by the Governor, or simultaneously with publication in the Official Journal, or within six weeks after the advice has been issued. Before this ordinance, the council itself used to make the advice public, 30 days after it had offered it to the Government.

Tasks

Advice
The Council’s most important task is advising the Government of the Netherlands Antilles on all important social and economical issues; this is called the advisory function. When the Government wants to introduce changes with a social and/or economical impact, it is legally required to obtain the SER’s advice.

Due to the SER’s representative structure, the Government – by asking the SER’s advice – will acquaint itself with the level of support within the community for new policy resolutions with social and/or economical consequences. This makes SER an important link in the Government’s decision-making process, because through the SER, the community is (indirectly) consulted in advance.

Apart from offering advice at the Government’s request, the SER can also provide advice of its own accord. This usually concerns social and economical issues that generate a lot of attention within the community.

Forum
Besides its advisory function, the SER also serves as a discussion platform for the two social partners represented in the SER; this is called the forum function.

The SER stimulates dialogue between employer and employee organizations. This forum function has not been incorporated into the SER’s statutes, but it is generally acknowledged that it is a logical consequence of the SER’s structure and advisory function.

Composition

The SER is composed of 18 members from the islands of the Netherlands Antilles. It has a tripartite structure with representatives of employers’ and employee organizations, as well as independent members. Every member has a replacement member who attends the meeting if the member can not attend the meeting.
It has been agreed that the members of the SER take part in deliberations without sticking to pre-established views and/or consulting with their organization. This is intended to guarantee a degree of independence from the organization that has supplied the member. Although members are proposed by several employers’ and employee organizations, they are appointed on their own account. The table below specifies how membership is divided across the various islands and organizations.

Composition of the SER
		Number of SER members
		Curacao	Bonaire	Leeward islands	Total
Employer organizations	K.v.K.	1	1	2	4
	V.B.C.	1			1
	A.K.I.B.		1		1
	Total	2	2	2	6
Employee organizations	C.G.T.C. / ABVO	1			1
	S.S.K.	1			1
	FEDEBON		1		1
	A.F.B.W.		1		1
	WIFOL			1	1
	U.F.A.			1	1
	Total	2	2	2	6
Independent		2	2	2	6
Total		6	6	6	18

The organizations named in the table have been granted the right to propose members because they are considered to be representative of the business community. The independent experts are expected to represent nor the business community, nor the Government. A SER member is appointed for his or her own account by the Governor with a national ordinance, for a two-year period.

From the SER members, a chairman and two deputy chairmen are chosen. The current chairman is Mr. S.M. Betrian. Below you will find the SER-member for the SER-year 2008/2009. The replacement members are listed behind the members.

Independent members* dhr. mr. S.M. Betrian - (dhr. drs. A.M. Nicatia)
* dhr. drs. R. Maduro - (mw. drs. R.T. Domacassé)
* mw. drs. M.G.L. Carolina - (mw. mr. M.R. Hammoud)
* dhr. J.H.C. Levenstone, MBA - (dhr. F. Janga)
* mw. A.C. Spanner-Schmidt - (dhr. X.S.G. Blackman)
* dhr. M.A. Lake - (dhr. C.J. Richardson)

Employer organizations* dhr. mr. J.H. Jacobs - (dhr. drs. R.F.M. Thuis)
* dhr. J.M. Kusters, MBA - (dhr. drs. R.P.J. Lieuw)
* dhr. ing. E. Winklaar, MBA - (dhr. ing. S.C.A. Pourier)
* dhr. A.F. Sealy - (dhr. B. Dirksz)
* dhr. H. Pantophlet - (dhr. M.J. Hodge)
* dhr. L. Ouenniche - (dhr. A.L. Bute)

Employee organizations* dhr. H.D. Mongen - (dhr. J.P. Zimmerman)
* dhr. P.A. Cova - (dhr. R.G. Ilario)
* dhr. N.A.I. Rollan - (dhr. C.F. Kwidama)
* dhr. G.T. Bernabela - (dhr. R. Martines)
* dhr. I. Jack - (dhr. E.C. Smith)
* mw. B.P. Hart L.L.B. - (mw. drs. S. Pantophlet)