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~ Says all consumers deserve relief ~
PHILIPSBURG--Windward Islands Chamber of Labour Unions (WICLU) wants utilities company GEBE to provide non-discriminatory relief across the board to all of its consumers instead of just a select few.
WICLU First Vice-President Claire Elshot said that while the temporary six-month relief GEBE offered qualifying senior citizens was "all good and well," this approach was discriminatory. Elshot contended that GEBE's concession stipulated that it should not have discriminatory practices.
She said many consumers were in need of relief and urged GEBE to extend non-discriminatory relief to all workers, who are also consumers. She said too that the criteria for which the selected seniors had been granted relief was still unclear.
"It is time that GEBE stops this discriminatory practice and offers relief to everyone across the board," Elshot contended during WICLU's bi-weekly press briefing on Thursday. "This is a very urgent matter that needs to be addressed."
She said the extremely high utility rates affected many workers in the country. She said the effects had been very evident this year with the high number of parents who could not come up with the school fees for their children at the start of the new academic year in August. The high cost of living and high utility rates are directly responsible for this.
She alluded to the motion passed unanimously by Parliament on January 15 for GEBE to provide relief to consumers. The motion, passed towards the end of the public meeting of Parliament on the 2014 budget, requested that the GEBE Shareholder Representative ensure that the operational loss subsidy formerly paid by GEBE for its operations in Saba and St. Eustatius go directly towards decreasing the fixed cost charged by GEBE to residential consumers.
MPs wanted the NAf. 5-7 million that GEBE now saves annually to benefit consumers. Elshot said the relief the motion had called for still had not been granted to consumers to date.
She said now that elections were over the persons elected to Parliament should handle this as one of the issues that had been championed during the election campaign.
