By Breaking Belize News Staff: The National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) has formally rejected Prime Minister John Briceño’s response to its 11 demands, saying none of the demands were met as submitted and announcing that it is preparing “activities and actions” in the coming days.
“These will increase in effectiveness and resolve until all 11 demands and the will of the people are achieved”, the Union cryptically said.
In a letter dated September 24, NTUCB General Secretary Timothy Dami said the Prime Minister’s September 15 response came 18 days after the union’s deadline and failed to address several matters, including the Vocational-Technical salary scale, two back-pay matters affecting Belize National Teachers’ Union members, and a timeline for filling the vacant Ombudsman post.
The union umbrella body also challenged Briceño’s assertion that unions have representation on the Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) board through the Social Security Board. NTUCB argued that the seat is not specifically designated for a union or worker representative and maintained that Government could establish tripartite representation at BTL through its own appointments without requiring legislative changes.
Briceño had earlier rejected several of NTUCB’s major proposals, including its demand for the removal of BTL Chairman Markhelm Lizarraga and three other directors, restructuring of the Public Utilities Commission, and halting the Revenue Authority Bill. Government instead pointed to BTL’s record profits, the statutory independence of the PUC and the importance it attaches to the revenue-authority reform. Government also indicated that whistleblower legislation had been shared with social partners, campaign-finance proposals were being developed, and work was underway toward filling the Ombudsman vacancy.
NTUCB’s original August submission called for, among other things, tripartite representation at BTL, changes to the PUC, whistleblower and campaign-finance legislation, enforcement of civil-asset-recovery legislation, filling the Ombudsman vacancy and support for the Public Service Union’s position on the Revenue Authority Bill. It also contained specific salary, back-pay and education-related demands from member unions.
In Thursday’s letter, NTUCB said the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Belize Network of NGOs share its concerns on several of the core governance issues, including BTL representation, the PUC, whistleblower protection, campaign-finance reform, civil-asset recovery, the Ombudsman’s Office and the Revenue Authority Bill. The groups have previously acted collectively as part of Belize’s social partners on governance concerns surrounding BTL.
“None of our 11 demands were met as submitted,” NTUCB stated, adding that it had not even received a date and time for a meeting to work through the outstanding issues. The Congress said its council has met to consider Government’s response and has also met with the Joint Social Partners.
NTUCB said the actions now being prepared will increase “in effectiveness and resolve” until its 11 demands are addressed.
The post NTUCB rejects Briceño’s response to 11 demands; ‘Actions will increase until will of the people achieved’ appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff: The National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) has formally rejected Prime Minister John Briceño’s response to its 11 demands, saying none of the demands were met as submitted and announcing that it is preparing “activities and actions” in the coming days. “These will increase in effectiveness and resolve until
The post NTUCB rejects Briceño’s response to 11 demands; ‘Actions will increase until will of the people achieved’ appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.