Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle has urged workers across Antigua and Barbuda to “rise up and demand better,” citing economic struggles and deteriorating public services.

Speaking at the Antigua and Barbuda Workers’ Union (ABWU) Labour Day rally, Pringle said the conditions facing workers and families were unsustainable. “When workers can’t save, can’t buy land, and pensioners must choose between food and medicine—then it is time to rise,” he told the crowd.

He pledged that the United Progressive Party would work alongside the ABWU to push for a living wage above the current $9 minimum. “We must secure better and more opportunities,” Pringle said, warning that the nation’s future was at risk if change did not come.

Pringle also called for public support of both the UPP and the ABWU, describing them as the country’s best hope for political and economic reform. “That is the work of a union that believes in its workers,” he said, vowing continued solidarity with the labour movement.