Gas station operators are reportedly threatening to strike on Tuesday as they demand an increase in their profit margins, a move Prime Minister Gaston Browne has described as badly timed.

Browne said he received information Monday night that dealers were considering closing their service stations to pressure the Government into approving a higher margin.

“I just got a call that gas station dealers are demanding an increase in their profit margin and threatening closure, at a time when the Government has eliminated its margin to keep prices down. Bad timing!” Browne said.

The Prime Minister argued that the threatened strike comes at a particularly difficult time, as international fuel prices are escalating and the Government is attempting to shield consumers from the full impact.

“Poor timing. Not when there is an escalation in prices,” he tells Antigua.news.

Browne said the Government did not increase its margin and has passed on only a portion of the rising costs to consumers in an effort to contain its losses while keeping fuel prices down.

“The Government did not increase its margin,” he said. “We have passed on some of the costs to contain the losses.”

No formal statement had been received from the gas station operators as of Monday night, according to the Prime Minister. He described the reported strike action as having been organised “clandestinely.”

It was not immediately clear how many service stations intend to participate in Tuesday’s threatened strike or whether negotiations would take place before the planned action.

However, Browne confirmed that the West Indies Oil Company service station on Friars Hill Road along with several other stations will remain opened.

The threatened strike could disrupt motorists and businesses if several privately operated stations close simultaneously.

Gas station operators have not yet publicly disclosed the size of the margin increase they are seeking or how long any strike action would last.