Forgo’ It Is! B.N.T.U., P.S.U. and G.O.B. Resolve Impasse

Elena Smith

The Government of Belize, the Public Service Union and the Belize National Teachers Union are now on the same page. All sides have agreed to the word “forgo” as the negotiations on government’s cost-saving measures during the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end.  G.O.B. had proposed that public officers and teachers forgo their salary increment for this fiscal year and have it calculated into their retirement benefits later on. The unions, however, had an issue with the word “forgo,” believing that “defer’’ would be the better choice of word. After several meetings, cooler heads prevailed and the unions agreed to forgo their increment with the view to have it calculated later on in their pension benefit. News Five spoke to B.N.T.U. National President Elena Smith for an update.

Hipolito Novelo

“So you agreed on “forgo?”

Elena Smith, National President, B.N.T.U.

“Yes. In the discussion that we had with the Prime Minister and his team both sides shared their reasoning for their position and we also shared with them our understanding if you will or our interpretation of forgo and defer. In the discussion the Prime Minister eventually said okay he understood what we meant, okay fine I’ll accept the word defer. So he used the word defer in our discussions. However when the written document came it said forgo. So that was the little back and forth that we were having because we thought in the discussions that we had with the team that they saw the reason why we were saying defer and that they had accepted that defer and forgo the way it was being worked out it would be the same. We discussed the matter and we still had some questions and some clarifications and we said that we would then accept the word forgo because it still contained the other portion which said that at the time of your retirement or whenever it is your time to received your benefits that the amount loss will be added to your calculation so that you will not lose anything in your gratuity or pension.”