Apr 29, 2021
Joint Unions Plot Way Forward After Senate Passes Budget
The Joint Unions Negotiating Team met this afternoon in an extended virtual session, following the passage of the 2021 Budget in the upper house on Wednesday. The way forward for the Belize National Teachers Union, the Association of Public Service Senior Managers and the Public Service Union is uncertain. Wednesday’s vote in the Senate has all but sealed the deal on the ten percent wage cut and increment freeze that teachers and public officers will receive for the next three years. The unions are fighting tooth and nail to prevent the implementation of the salary adjustment and have proceeded with industrial action against the Government of Belize. The effort, nonetheless, has been met with mixed reaction from the public, as the issue remains divisive topic amid the ongoing economic hardship the country is faced with. News Five attempted on several occasions this evening to get a word from
Written on April 28, 2021 | Posted in Featured,Miscellaneous,People & Places,Politics | Comments Off
The National Trade Union Congress of Belize has called on the joint unions and the Government of Belize to go back to the negotiation table. But, since G.O.B. has already [.]
Apr 28, 2021
Teachers Strike during Senate Debate; Day 3
Today marks three consecutive days of strike action by the Belize National Teachers Union. Once again, teachers took to the National Assembly steps, as they did during last week’s House of Representatives budget debate. Only this time, there was an even larger turnout as teachers were bused in from all ten branches across the country. The size of the crowd changed, but the message remained the same – teachers continue their call for the government to fully implement UNCAC and its accompanying legislation. News Five was covering the event this morning and during a break, spoke to Jose Mejia, the First Vice President of the B.N.T.U.
Apr 28, 2021
N.T.U.C.B. Meets with the Media to Iron Advertising Wrinkle
The National Trade Union Congress of Belize convened a virtual meeting with the media this afternoon to discuss concerns and discontent over the airing of political ads taken out against the Belize National Teachers Union and the Public Service Union by the People’s United Party. The ads are a first-of-its-kind offensive being taken against the trade unions amid the ongoing standoff involving the ten percent salary cut for teachers and public officers. While the P.S.U. and B.N.T.U. have received considerable air time on all Belizean media, they say the ads being run on many stations are counter-narratives to the messages they are sending to the public.
Apr 27, 2021
B.N.T.U. Pickets Cabinet Meeting
Members of the Belize National Teachers Union were once again absent from the classroom. Today, day two of the teachers’ strike action, saw teachers walking from the Battlefield Park in downtown Belize City to the House of Culture where cabinet was meeting inside. We spoke to Branch President for the Belize District Branch, Tanya Flowers-Gillett about today’s picketing and their possible loss of earnings.
Tanya Flowers-Gillett, B.N.T.U. President, Belize District Branch
“What we are doing today is an education campaign. We started from Battle-Field park and we are distributing our information flyer, know the facts. After which we will do a small picketing around the house of culture today.”