By: Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 8th May 2020) — “I give you the assurance that our Party has the plans and ideas that will put our people back to work as swiftly as possible. It is for this very reason that we have established an Economic Recovery Advisory Council that will guide our country back to global competitiveness in the shortest time possible.”
So said Leader of the Opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party and former Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas in his Monday 4th May 2020 message on the occasion of International Workers’ Day.
“Our Party in government will also ensure that our workers are compensated for the risks that they have taken during this crisis and for the inordinate burden that they are bearing,” he also remarked.
Dr. Douglas outlined three pillars for the SKNLP’s post-COVID environment: it must be FLEXIBLE (flexi-hours for civil servants, unemployment insurance through a revamped Severance Fund, loans and grants to small businesses); FAIR (phased increase in minimum wage, increased salaries for public servants); and FUTURE-READY (support for entrepreneurs, training and incentives for local companies and small businesses).
“Today is a Labour Day like no other. The onset of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has changed so much about life as we know it. Along with the public health crisis it has engendered, this pandemic has also brought with it a forced economic recession that may be the worst our nation has ever experienced since its Independence in 1983,” he said.