2 weeks ago
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The National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) is pressing the Briceño administration to act on eleven demands covering public-sector accountability, labour participation, education and governance. The umbrella union has attached deadlines ranging from immediate action to the next national budget. Prime Minister John Briceño has acknowledged that communication between his office and the unions has not been as direct as it should have been. He conceded that he bears some responsibility for the breakdown and addressed the steps needed to improve engagement. In addition to that, the PM says he will review the demands shortly.
John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “Well, it’s not a matter of having a response by tomorrow, but I will have a response. As I said, I want to discuss the proposed response to Cabinet. And once we do that, we’ll be sending an official letter to NTUCB and I must put it on record that I do recognize that we probably need to work even harder to have a better relationship with NTUCB. I have to take responsibility for that. Well, we have the DPM and three other ministers that are the directly liaison with them. And so I was just feeling that they are the ones that represent them. And then I what I am making that commitment to them that they want us to meet more often, every quarter, I’ll do my best to see how we could structure to be able to meet with them more often and to be able to strengthen the relationship.”
Among its immediate demands, the NTUCB wants the Government to remove Belize Telemedia Limited Chairman Markhelm Lizarraga and board members Moises Cal, Arturo Lizarraga and Eric Eusey. It is also calling for the Revenue Authority Bill to be halted in its current form and for a dedicated liaison to be appointed between the Congress and the Office of the Prime Minister. Other demands include the establishment of a tripartite structure at BTL and the restructuring of the Public Utilities Commission within ninety days. The Congress is also seeking whistle-blower legislation and campaign-finance reform within that same period. The NTUCB has given the Government thirty days to fully operationalise the Civil Asset Recovery and Unexplained Wealth Act, while calling for the independence of the Office of the Ombudsman to be protected within ninety days. Education is also central to the Congress’s demands. The Belize National Teachers’ Union (BNTU) is seeking three weeks’ vacation in August, in addition to July; a resolution to the salary-scale issue affecting TVET teachers; and the introduction of an expansion allowance beginning in the 2027–2028 school year. According to Fonseca, his ministry and the union have maintained timely, respectful and productive discussions on the issues affecting teachers. The final demand calls for greater investment in the University of Belize and fairer access to scholarships in the next fiscal budget. Education Minister Francis Fonseca, however, says he is surprised that the BNTU would resort to demands and deadlines.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs: “Of course I looked at the ones that I focused on were the ones coming from BNTU and I think the UB Faculty and Staff Union. So we’re prepared to respond to those. I was a little surprised because the ones from the BNTU are areas we’ve been working on. We’ve been discussing around the table between education, just education and BNTU we’ve been talking about those. So I was surprised that they found themselves in some broader discussion, but nonetheless we are prepared to respond to those. Important points. In terms of UB, when we came in the subvention, the monthly subvention was 7.5 million when we came into office. It’s now at 10 million. We’re not at the 15 million we promised but we came in during COVID. So it took us about two years before we started adding on. Now it’s at $10 million this year, this fiscal year. And we should not forget that every year, and this has gone up significantly over the past five years, we contribute another maybe $20 million to UB through scholarships and financial assistance to students, the ministry education just the ministry. So that’s significant, it’s significant. So, UB is our national university. We’re always prepared to sit down with them and discuss how we can improve our partnership.”
The union also wants salaries repaid to teachers who were placed on interdiction, as well as outstanding payments to educators who continued working with expired licenses. The NTUCB has given the Government between forty-five and ninety days to address those matters./
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