In a powerful address during the VC Bird Day commemorations, Antigua and Barbuda Trades and Labour Union (AT&LU) President Bernard De Nully delivered a compelling plea to government officials for immediate pension reform. Speaking before an audience that included the Governor General and Prime Minister, De Nully declared the current $500 monthly minimum pension fundamentally inadequate for retirees’ survival needs.
De Nully challenged cabinet members directly, posing the rhetorical question: “It is time to move beyond the $500. A minimum. Is that livable? The answer is no.” He expressed confidence in the government’s capacity to implement change, stating, “We can do better. And we will do better, for I have faith in my leaders.”
The union leader contextualized his appeal within the historical legacy of Antigua’s labor movement, highlighting how both the AT&LU and Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party were established on principles protecting society’s most vulnerable members. He emphasized that these institutions “have always acted to protect and to advance the interests of these two groups—the youth and the elderly.”
De Nully recounted four transformative achievements spearheaded by the labor movement over five decades: the 1967 Constitution, the 1974 Social Security system implementation, the 1978 Medical Benefits Scheme, and the 1994 Education Levy. He clarified that Social Security represents “a forced system of saving. An investment that is returned to the worker upon their retirement, ensuring that the elderly are assured a livable income”—not merely a tax.
Invoking historical precedent, De Nully referenced former Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer’s description of national hero Vere Cornwall Bird Sr. as “unmatched on parallel and unsurpassed” in his national impact. The union president concluded with a personal commitment to strengthen the organization, pledging as the seventh AT&LU leader to “stand in the shoes of this great man” and uphold the principle that “the unity of labor is the salvation of our country.”