Teachers accept settlement, other unions hold out

This morning, there appeared to be some light at the end of the tunnel for those hoping for a resolution to the nation’s ongoing labour and civic turmoil, but as the afternoon wore on clarity was in short supply. Here’s a running diary of the day’s events.

Janelle Chanona, Reporting
It was a fish bowl inside the headquarters of the Belize National Teachers Union as courtesy of a glass window, the press was treated to the visual negotiations of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize as its leaders deliberated over the latest proposals to end their walkout.

Behind closed doors in the rear of the upper flat, Minister of National Development Assad Shoman and Financial Secretary Carla Barnett waited for the unions? response.

Among the government proposals on the table were promises to:
1. Pay teachers, public officers and pensioners their five and eight percent salary increases on April 1st
2. Delay the implementation of the new taxes until March 1st
3. establish a working group of the NTUCB and officials from the Ministry of Finance would review the budget and make specific proposals for increasing revenues and reducing expenditure while maintaining a fiscal deficit of 4.2% for 2004/2005 and three percent of GDP for 2005/2006.
4. And as a ?gesture of goodwill? everyone who participated in any protest action would receive their full salaries once all teachers and public officers went back to work on Friday 4th February and make up for time lost at a later date.

According to General Secretary of the NTUCB, George Frazer, the pressure of the protests had forced the government to meet their demands.

George Frazer, General Secretary, NTUCB
?They no give we no grounds, but we know it?s the pressure that is coming on and obviously with an escalating action. You heard the Nurses Association yesterday, over four hundred strong, also came on board, their business sectors, Orange Walk and others. There are many people out there who are willing to join the fray and do the shutdown including the business sectors and others so this could only cripple the government. Revenues no coming in, people out there, and that kind of thing. So I guess all those pressures come to bear.?

As the afternoon progressed and no consensus reached, the unions called in for legal advice from senior counsel Lois Young Barrow.

But then it becomes clear the union?s solidarity is under pressure as first, Frazer storms out of the meeting…

George Frazer
?They deh deh. I have some work fu do inna the mean time. I wah do mi business.?

And then hush toned meetings begin to pop up in corridors and it becomes increasingly clear that dissention has entered the ranks of the unionists.

Shoman and Barnett give the unions until five pm to make a response to the agreement.

Zenaida Moya, APSSM
?I must say that the NTCUB will never just accept an ultimatum like that as much as we respect the government. We?re here and we?re reviewing this agreement in good faith and the government needs to respect us and give us the time to review this.?

?Some things we will agree with, of course the five and eight percent. Of course you guys understand we will agree with that. But as it pertains to the roll back of taxes, we have to discuss that a little further and even in terms of holding. As you know some of the officers have been threatened and we need to get something that these officers will not be held legally liable for their actions.?

Janelle Chanona
?What was the government?s ultimatum?s or else??

Zenaida Moya
?Their or else and I believe probably you can speak to them better. Their or else is they really need to get to this. They don?t want to be going back and forth.?

Janelle Chanona
?Or else??

Zenaida Moya
?You need to speak to them. We?re not going to hold out on any threats.?

Assad Shoman, Minister of National Development
?There has been no change. Exactly what I took from the unions, the government agreed one hundred percent.?

Janelle Chanona
?So if that date has to be changed then you?ll have to go back to Cabinet and get a mandate for a new date??

Assad Shoman
?I don?t know that I would have the credibility then to do that. Because here I go to Cabinet and say look, I am telling you, myself and Dr. Barnett, that this is what they want. And then Cabinet says fine, that?s what they want. Then I go back to them and tomorrow say guess what? They want something a little bit different. Please agree to that. They will say fine and I come back. Then I might have to go back Monday and say guess what? They want something else now. I have no credibility in that position. So what I have done I think is the best of myself and Dr. Barnett have been able to do. And I have quite a lot of confidence that the workers movement, which is so important in our country and I wish it was much stronger everyday, will live up to its responsibilities.?

Janelle Chanona
?If this latest attempt from government doesn?t work, will it be because politics got involved??

Assad Shoman
?I can?t say that, I don?t know. You?ll have to ask the politicians. I mean all I can say is that it won?t be because government hasn?t done anything possible to number one, protect the interest of the people of this country; number two engage in good faith discussions and a real negotiating process with the unions and at the end of the process, agreed one hundred percent with the position of the union. Of course the union had moved its position as well. In a negotiation nobody stays with their original position otherwise you?d never have an agreement. But both of us reached the point where that was. So government could never be blamed for doing anything wrong or for not living up to anything if that were to happen. I?m hoping that will not happen. I think everybody feels that this is the time for settlement; this is the time for the country to go back. Every time one hour is lost in production or in the life of the economy everybody suffers. But the poor people always suffer the most.?

Dr. Carla Barnett, Financial Secretary
?What we actually agreed with the unions last night is that they would sit with us and tell us what we would cut from other parts of the budget to be able to meet the extra money that we will have to find for the salaries. So it?s not that we are adding to the budget. The bottom line remains the same. It?s about reallocating the funds already approved in the budget. The agreement is providing for a team to be set up to work through that process. So that?s very straightforward and technical.?

?Well, the union has to give proposals for that and we have to sit and work them through.?

Janelle Chanona
?Is there a time line for that??

Dr. Carla Barnett
?Well it has to be before the beginning of the budget year. The budget year is the first of April. We have agreed that we would sit over the next month and work through that. A team would have to be named by the unions and they would work with the Ministry of Finance and we would identify within the budget. It would have to have clear understanding of what exactly the cuts meant. It would mean deciding not to do particular projects or reallocating a way from certain activities.?

Keith Swift, Channel 7
?Dr. Barnett is that at all realistic??

Dr. Carla Barnett
?It?s absolutely realistic. We had intended to spend a certain amount of money. We are going to spend a certain amount of money. It?s really to decide how to spend it in a slightly different way.?

Janelle Chanona
?Reallocations from funds anywhere including employee salaries anywhere??

Dr. Carla Barnett
?It cannot be from employee salaries because obviously we are talking about adding too.?

Janelle Chanona
?No, but like contract officers??

Dr. Carla Barnett
?All of that is something I cannot answer at this time. I am only saying at this time that the understanding is that we would be reallocating funds from elsewhere in the budget; most likely capital projects because those are the easiest things to reallocate away from.?

As the government officials leave the building, General Secretary of the NTUCB informs the media that eight out of ten of the BNTU?s branch presidents have agreed to the PM?s proposals.

George Frazer
?Our BNTU representatives from all the branches were here, and so they voted and that?s the decision, whether there?s a demonstration or not Friday BNTU will not participate.?

Keith Swift, Channel 7
?Mr. Frazer all along you were saying that you guys were in this together for the long run and you wouldn?t divide at any point. What happened??