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Posted: Monday 20 February, 2017 at 8:14 AM

Bus drivers call off proposed strike; threat remains

By: Jermine Abel, SKNVibes.com

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE proposed strike action to be have been taken by passenger bus drivers today, was called off, but the possibility that it could take place at a later date still exists.

     

    SKNVibes understands that after holding talks last evening (Feb. 19) at the War Memorial, between150 and 200 drivers agreed not to take strike action today.

     

    This media house understands that the impact that the strike would have had today would not have been felt the way the drivers had proposed.

     

    When reporters visited the meeting area last evening, it had not yet started. However, President of the Sugar City Bus Association, Bernard Boland Jr, explained that their proposed action was to get the attention of the relevant authorities to listen to the cries and plea of drivers within St. Kitts.

     

    Their cries have ‘fallen on deaf ears’ over the last several years when they made pleas to the government, the president noted.

     

    “The truth is, we have been crying out to the government for years now, I would say many, many years now.  Very often, over the last two to three years, we have made cries about the difficulties we have been having with the bus service.  Instead of them listening to us and listen to our cries they seem to be shutting us out.”

     

    The drivers contend that they are being harassed by the police and that they are faced with a rapidly increasing number of passenger buses hitting the road.

     

     “We basically have no contact with them; we try our best to contact them but they promise many times to call back to do meetings with us but never get a callback... One of our main challenges is the new numbers (for passenger buses) that are coming on the road.”

     

    According to the president, last evening’s meeting “was basically organized to get the consensus among the bus drivers because we were planning to have the strike (today). It was to bring some kind of unity among us and to see if everybody was on the same ground for us to strike.”

     

    SKNVibes also understands that a document that was leaked to the media calling for the proposed strike action may have also led to the decision to not have the strike action today.

     

    Further, the travelling public may not be out of the woods just yet as the drivers are still contemplating strike actions.

     

    Asked last evening by SKNVibes, if further action would be contemplated should their calls for a meeting(s) remain unheeded by the authorities, and Boland responded in the affirmative.

     

    “Quite possibly, quite possibly,” he said.  “I am confident that if 90 percent of the buses were to strike tomorrow, it would cause the country to be in a state of stagnation. People would not be able to travel to work; they would not be able to go to their different destinations. If the buses strike, St. Kitts basically shut down.”

     

     

     

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