Belize teachers arrested as strike over pay cuts continues jamaicaobserver.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jamaicaobserver.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Christopher Coye
The Unions and the Government have been negotiating for weeks now trying to arrive at an amicable solution to an impasse brought on by a salary cut and increment freeze to public officers and teachers. The situation is so tense that the representative unions, the Public Service Union and the Belize National Teachers Union are on strike. The Association of Public Service Senior Managers on Wednesday May 5th also served notice that they will also be joining the other unions on strike. It’s a situation that has government negotiators engaged but based on comments that the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance has made, it seems there is a disconnect between the offers being made to the unions and the extent to which Government will go to fulfill those offers.
Workers Struggles: The Americas
Latin America
Workers in Nicaraguan free trade zone factory strike over firings, company/union severance agreement
Over 1,200 workers at the New Holland Apparel textile plant in Nicaragua struck May 7 following a meeting between union and company representatives in which the firm refused a proposal to pay three months of wages when the plant closes on May 28. Instead, management offered, and the union accepted, a one-time payment of 700 Córdobas, equal to a little less than US$20, an amount called a “joke” by workers. Some 800 workers have signed a petition opposing the agreement “because our rights are violated, and an agreement was made with which we are not in accord.”
May 4, 2021
P.S.U. Kicks of Strike with Service and March through Belize City
If you went to any government offices today and wondered where the staff was, well they were very likely on the streets of Belize City. News Five followed the Public Service Union members from their opening church service to their march on Belize City.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Today marks the first day of strike action for the Public Service Union of Belize. The day began with a church service at the King’s Park Nazarene church. After service, the P.S.U., Belize National Teachers Union, the Nurses Association of Belize, and the Association of Public Service Senior Managers went on a march through the streets of Belize City. President of the PSU, Gerald Henry told News Five that he was thrilled with the turnout of PSU members, which he estimated to be hundreds, from communities across the country.