Attendees trickling into the V.I. Legislature building on St. Thomas ahead of the State of the Territory were met by the loud chants of more than a dozen United Steelworkers Union members who had gathered outside to demand long-term contracts, safer working conditions and the payment of retroactive wages.
According to Daniel Flippo, director of USW’s District 9, members working within government agencies are now working on day-to-day contracts with a 72-hour notice to expire.
“We have 12 government contracts throughout the territory that haven’t been completed and the ones that have been completed, the government hasn’t fulfilled,” he said. “They said they would do wages, they have not, they said they would do retro pay, they have not and then we have health and safety issues that we are very concerned about and the government isn’t moving to get those things fixed.”
The protests, held simultaneously on both St. Thomas and St. Croix, were staged to send a message that “we’re not going away and that we’re here to make sure they honor the contracts that we have,” he said.
Flippo said the union is looking for two things: to get executed what the government has already promised to give and to put in place long-term agreements, from two to three years, so that its members “don’t have to wonder year-to-year” how their benefits are going to change or if their wages will increase.
“We do want to partner with the government, but that partnership goes two ways,” Flippo shared, adding that if something doesn’t give soon, the union is prepared to take the next step, which could include job actions.
“But we are hoping that with our message today, the government will sit down with us so that we don’t have to,” he said.
Meanwhile, on St. Croix, about 30 union members stood in unison outside of the Government House in Christiansted, chanting, “No contract, no peace. We ain’t giving no peace if we don’t get no contract. Give us our contract right now.”
Wesley Thompson, the subdistrict director for District 9, said, “We are here because the governor and the government have failed to give us contracts. We try to negotiate, they stall, and don’t show up. They do not have enough people in the Office of Collective Bargaining to handle their job. We’ve got contracts on day-to-day extensions since 2017, some going back to 2013 and when we do have contracts, we do get them to the table and both parties agree the governor refuses to sign it.”
He added that concerns abound in the private sector as well.
“Our major concern with VIYA, you know they are the largest phone company in the Virgin Islands, is that they are outsourcing their customer service to Guyana. We need the jobs here in the Virgin Islands, our members need the jobs,” Thompson said.
Thompson said that the workers are asking them to come to the table and negotiate fair contracts. “Secondly, when they do negotiate fair contracts, we want them to live up to those contracts. Third, stop playing with our back pay, we won those in federal court,” he explained.
Union members shared the sentiments.
“We were promised a raise and we work very hard. We go to work tentatively every day and we do our job to the best of our ability. We deserve a cost of living raise so that we can survive. We shouldn’t be working two jobs; we are working for the governor. They should be assisting their employees. Treat us like they are treating themselves,” said Florence Barnett. “Unity is power, always remember that. There should be more of us out here. We are working for the entire government, but a tree can’t stand still. So, if some of us come out the next time more of us is going to come out.”
