Union Uses D. Hamilton Jackson Day to Protest Lack of Contract Renewals and Wage Increases

Members of the United Steel Workers Union (USW) Local 9489 used the annual D. Hamilton Jackson Day celebration in Grove Place to protest the Virgin Islands government’s failure to renew contracts and provide long-overdue wage increases for several bargaining units across the territory.

 Carrying placards amid the crowd gathered to honor the labor leader and press freedom pioneer, union representatives said their protest was deliberately timed to align with Jackson’s legacy of labor action and advocacy.

The local chapter includes 911 Operators, all government supervisors, support staff along with the V.I. Waste Management Union and the V.I. Lottery Union. Gerard Jackson, staff representative for the USW in the Virgin Islands, said the demonstration aimed to draw attention to years of stalled negotiations. “We’re really protesting not getting our contracts renewed by the government of the Virgin Islands,” he said. “Since 2009 we haven’t had the increases for the Allied Health. And then we know the supervisors union has been out of a contract for over three years. We have the enforcement officers of the territory who have been out of contract within the last two years. We have the support staff basically, who’s without a contract now, effective September of this year.”

Jackson described repeated delays and limited progress at the bargaining table. “We’ve been going back and forth. Our contractors have updated the agreement, and every time we get to the table, there’s always excuses of why we can’t get wage increases,” he said. “We find that, especially with the support staff, [they] are making more money than the supervisors that they actually are supervising, and we need to get to the table.”  READ MORE ...https://viconsortium.com/vi-community_center/virgin-islands-steelworkers-use-d--hamilton-jackson-day-to-protest-lack-of-contract-renewals-and-wage-increases