The Labour Spokesman Editorial
On Tuesday night, 1 March, US President Joseph Biden made his first ‘State of The Union’ address to Congress. While speaking about the current state of affairs in the US economy he pointed out that employment levels were on the increase, but expressed his fear that big business and other employers would seek to scale back the pay of workers because of certain ‘perceived’ increases in the costs of production. In brief, President Biden called upon them to ‘reduce costs’ rather than reduce ‘pay.’ We call on our government to take a page from Mr Biden’s book, and make some efforts at helping the workers of our beloved St Kitts and Nevis.
On several occasions we have drawn to the attention of government the dire economic and financial circumstances by which the ordinary people of our country are now confronted, but it has fallen on deaf ears. The almost daily increases in the price of goods at our supermarkets and groceries are causing our people much agony and, in many cases, sleepless nights. A very recent case involves an overnight increase in the price of a certain commodity from four dollars to eleven dollars. Yes, dear people, this is no mistake — you are reading correctly. And that is only one example.
Information has reached this newspaper that ferry fares between our two islands have been, or are shortly to be, increased quite substantially. The one-way fare for adults is to be increased from thirty dollars to forty dollars; for children under twelve from ten dollars to twenty dollars; and for students in uniform from fifteen dollars to twenty-five dollars. What, may we ask, is the government doing about any of this? In the words of The King Ellie Matt, from one of his famous calypsos: “The poor can’t take no more!”