Budget Day which is January 20, has been declared as a red letter day by the Grenada Trades Union Council (GTUC).

The island’s labour leaders are calling on workers to wear red on Budget Day as they continue the fight with the Keith Mitchell-led government in St. George’s on the controversial 5% National Reconstruction Levy.

The TUC has issued a public call for workers in Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique to wear red arm bands, ribbons and T-shirts to demonstrate total opposition to the levy which is viewed in some quarters as an “Income Tax”.

The umbrella trade union body has been meeting in recent days with members from the various work places to update them on its plan to battle the levy. Union officials told this newspaper that teams have been despatched to meet with bus drivers and truckers to seek their solidarity in the struggle against the 5% tax.

A well-placed source did not rule out the possibility of workers taking some form of industrial action on budget Day itself. He spoke of the TUC engaged in fine-tuning the form that “the struggle” might take including withdrawal of labour for a limited amount of hours on January 20 in certain key industries.

Last Saturday, the TUC held a special meeting at the Seamen & Waterfront Workers Union (SWWU) building to update its eight affiliates and to decide on the next course of action. The pro-government SWWU was the only trade union not represented at the meeting.

Although the SWWU boss was reportedly seen attending a cricket match at the nearby Tanteen playing field, the union’s official position for staying away from the meeting was that its members had to work on a vessel that was docked on the St. George’s Pier.

The Grenada Manual Maritime and Intellectual Workers Union (GMMIWU) and the Grenada Union of Teachers (GUT) have already pledged their full support to the TUC in its opposition to the 5% levy.
TUC has already started to mobilise workers after government announced after a Cabinet meeting last week that it was going ahead with the tax.

Acting TUC President, Madonna Harford of the Public Workers Union (PWU) told reporters that workers throughout the country are already heavily burdened and as such cannot be forced to pay an additional 5% from their meagre wages.

Harford noted that while the Mitchell administration is asking the hard working people of the country to make additional sacrifices to contribute towards the rebuilding of Grenada he has increased the number of senior ministers in Cabinet.

This is reference to the promotion of Senator Emmalin Pierre from the post of Minister of State for Youth Development to a full ministerial appointment. According to Harford, this will automatically see the salary of the new minister being increased inclusive of other allowances.

TUC is firmly of the opinion that this move by the NNP government does not demonstrate its commitment and willingness to sacrifice. The trade union movement has consistently argued that there are other ways in which Government can raise the money outside of taxing workers’ income.

It has pointed to the possibility of increasing duties on certain luxury items such as private cars, cell phones, alcohol, and corporate profits from the business community.