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HomeNewsArchivesUNIONS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST GOVERNOR'S BUDGET

UNIONS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST GOVERNOR'S BUDGET

Sept. 12, 2003 – About 80 people converged on the Legislature Building in Frederiksted on Friday to protest the governor's proposed Fiscal Year 2004 executive budget. The march, organized by the local American Federation of Teachers union and joined by members of Our Virgin Islands Labor Union, was billed as a show of solidarity by government workers.
The unions were protesting Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's recently released budget, which, among other cost-cutting and revenue-enhancing measures, calls for a 36-hour work week and reductions in annual leave for government workers, a one-year moratorium on union contract negotiations, and a 10 percent surcharge on all personal income tax obligations.
The current AFT contract, which covers the territory's public school teachers and paraprofessionals, expires in August of 2004. AFT officials have already stated they will not return to work when the new school year begins next fall without a new contract in place.
Some of the placards the protesters carried in Friday's demonstration read: "WAPA going up, Telephone going up, Cable going up, Salaries going down," "Save the future for our Children" and "The buck stops here."
The protesters were led by Tyrone Molyneaux, St. Croix district AFT president, and Terrence "Positive" Nelson, president of Our Virgin Islands Labor Union. As part of the demonstration, they conducted a "roll call" of senators outside the Legislature Building. Sens. Carlton Dowe, Usie Richards, Ronald Russell and Celestino A. White Sr. were present to answer the call.
Richards, the 25th Legislature's minority leader, addressed the crowd, assuring them that minority members do not support the governor's proposals. He noted that the minority bloc submitted 25 suggestions and recommendations for reducing government costs last summer.
"Some of the measures we put forward are now law," he said, and he and his colleagues are determined to push forward the others as a means of helping the government out of its current financial mire. (See "Senate minority proposes 25 cost-cutting steps".)
Russell, the only member of the Democratic majority appearing before the protesters, assured them that he, too, does not agree with the governor's cost-cutting measures.
Turnbull unveiled his budget on Aug. 29. In July and August, in the absence of that proposed budget, which was due on May 31, the Senate Finance Committee went ahead and conducted FY 2004 budget hearings. They had been completed except for a fiscal overview from the top administration financial officials that was scheduled for Aug. 26-27.
At the governor's request, Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, the committee chair, agreed to reschedule the overview, and it is now set for Sept. 23-24. He said recently that he expects the committee to complete its markup of whatever budget it is going with and to send it to the full Senate by the first or second week of October.
The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. If the FY 2004 budget is not in place by then, the current budget will be extended until such time as the new budget is enacted.

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