Hyde and Usher Ask Unions to Understand and Work with Government

Cordel Hyde

Deputy Prime Minister and member for the Lake Independence division, Cordel Hyde says he views the public service wage cut as a necessary action, even in the face of discontent from public servants.  During his budget speech, Hyde said the salary adjustment will be reviewed every six months in partnership with the unions. He pleaded with teachers and public officers to give his administration a chance.  Public Service Minister Henry Charles Usher said the unions and the government are on the same side. 

Cordel Hyde, Area Representative, Lake Independence

“I am asking the Unions. I am asking the teachers and public officers to give us a chance. If we didn’t believe this was necessary, we wouldn’t be doing this. We gain nothing from doing this other than your wrath and discontent. We know this.  But we are in a desperate situation as a people and country. And experts are saying if we do nothing, in a matter of months we can hit the proverbial wall. It is better for us to do something now and find out that a year from now we went too far, than for us to do nothing and six months from now we rue the day we did not take the ten percent. We are not going to keep this any longer than needs be. We will review the numbers every six months along with the Union. We will do it together. We will review it together comprehensively every twelve months to determine whether we have met our targets and discontinue with the adjustments. I assure we are not going to keep this any longer than we have to.”

Henry Charles Usher

Henry Charles Usher, Area Representative, Fort George

“The Unions and the Government are on the same sides. We want the same things. We want good governance. We want efficient services. We want national development. We have to work together to achieve those. Do you think madam speaker that in the first few months in Government that I or any of my colleagues would be wanting to be talking about salary adjustments or adjustments in the wage bill. It makes no political sense Madam Speaker. But the people elected a P.U.P. Government to think and work without eyes not on the next or future elections but to secure a future for generations of Belizeans to come.  Madam Speaker in 2008 the Wage Salary Bill was two hundred and seventy-five million dollars. Today it is around five hundred and fifty million dollars. Eighty-three cents of every dollar government collects goes to paying wages. This is just not sustainable. Imagine Madam Speaker I you are building a house for a hundred thousand dollars and the contract tells you that labor is 83 thousand dollars. You would only have seventeen thousand dollars to buy all you material and buy everything to build your house. That cannot be sustainable madam speaker.”