The Antigua Trades and Labour Union (AT&LU) is calling on workers to turn out in large numbers for the planned “National White March” tomorrow.
AT&LU said the march is to protest the Baldwin Spencer government’s policies that it claims “will cause further unemployment, growing hardship and massive dislocation of workers and their families”.
In a statement, AT&LU said “the governance crisis in which the country now finds itself stems exclusively from uninformed policy choices and wrongheaded notions adopted by the government.
“The planned layoffs at the Port, the sale of the State Insurance, the massive increase in taxes since 2004, the excessive borrowings, and the acceptance of an IMF (International Monetary Fund) programme have driven Antigua and Barbuda to the edge of the precipice.”
The union said the late payment of wages to workers among other issues “are reasons sufficient for the workers of Antigua and Barbuda to send a clear message to the Government that the vast majority are dissatisfied.”
The AT&LU said while it has been urging workers to be patient, its patience has run out and the march tomorrow is to send a clear message to the government that all unions and their members find its economic and other policies to be untenable.
“By joining the protest, the AT&LU will be lending voice to the dissatisfaction expressed by workers in the workplaces, in the communities, and at the union meetings,” it said, adding that the march will also be a demand to the administration for better government and more worker-friendly policies. (CMC)
