St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Minister of National Security, St. Clair Leacock, has raised the possibility of reducing the country’s standard five-day work week as the government prepares for the severe economic fallout of international conflict.

Speaking on the OMG morning radio show, Leacock discussed the local implications of the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran, specifically highlighting the threat of a global oil crisis and skyrocketing fuel costs.

He revealed that the government has proactively established a technical committee of experts, spanning security, economics, foreign affairs, and civil society to advise the Cabinet and formulate a contingency plan.

When outlining the drastic measures the country might need to adopt if fuel prices were to double, Leacock openly questioned the sustainability of the current labor schedule.

“Do we continue to have a 5-day work week, do we have to limit ourselves to a lesser numbers?” Leacock asked.

While Leacock did not explicitly explicitly use the exact phrase “four-day work week,” his suggestion to limit the five-day work week to “lesser numbers” points directly to a shortened work schedule as a potential conservation strategy already adopted by nations like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

This potential reduction in the work week was floated alongside a list of other severe, hypothetical energy-saving measures, which include:

Implementing mandatory carpooling and limiting public transportation.

Rationing fuel for security forces, power companies, and essential transportation.

Restricting the hours that citizens are allowed to run electricity in their homes.

Reducing government taxes on fuel imports.

Leacock warned that the international crisis represents a “very serious headwind” that could turn the local economy upside down and drastically alter the government’s budgetary plans.

However, he assured the public that the government is not waiting until the crisis is on their doorstep to act, and that the multi-disciplinary committee is already hard at work to help the nation navigate the upcoming challenges