Bermuda’s trade unions have called for the Government to divert $1.2 billion of corporate income tax revenues to help Bermudians overcome the high cost of living.

The Bermuda Trade Union Congress will go to the people this week in three evening meetings starting tomorrow, making their case and presenting new, updated statistics on the costs of food and other items.

The unions are repeating the position they took after Labour Day — proposing the Government provide the Health Insurance Plan, or HIP, and FutureCare free of charge, ending the requirement for those insured to pay premiums, as early as this coming April.

Executives of the BTUC said the runaway cost of living had been on the table in Bermuda for more than five decades since a 1971 high cost of living report, and that it was about time something substantive addressed it.

Town hall meetings include tomorrow, 6.30pm to 8.30pm at Penno’s Wharf, St George’s; Wednesday, 6.30pm to 8.30pm at Dalton E Tucker Primary School, Southampton; and Thursday, 5.30pm to 8pm at St Paul AME Church in Hamilton.

Dean Smith, the BTUC president, of the Bermuda Fire Service Association, said the meetings were so important that anyone needing transportation should contact 737-0176.

Chris Furbert, the BTUC second vice-president and Bermuda Industrial Union head, said that new information will be presented to the public from a report that has already been shared with the Government.

After presenting the report to David Burt, the Premier, in September, the BTUC is prepared to update it after absorbing public feedback.

Mr Furbert said: “We’ve been having this conversation about Bermuda’s high cost of living for too long, and it is time for us to really do something about it.”

He said while the Government has focused on working with food stores, “it’s not nearly enough”.

He said the annual private insurance cost for a family of two parents and a child has climbed to $60,000, shared between employer and employee.

He added: “The Government has new revenue: CIT. So if the Government’s revenue has increased by 50 per cent to 100 per cent, what’s wrong with using some of that revenue to take care of the people of the country? That’s what should be happening.”

The BTUC’s view was that the Government seemed to have already set aside more money for healthcare and should increase the sum accordingly.