D.F.C. Employees Stage Lunch Break Protest

Today, staff members of the Development Finance Corporation used their lunch breaks to stage what appeared to be a protest. Videos sent to News Five from the D.F.C.’s Belize City Branch and Belmopan Branch show employees in front of their respective buildings dressed in black and singing songs of solidarity. The action reportedly stems from their opposition to a proposed ten percent reduction in salaries, as well as a proposed cut in their vacation leaves and benefits. The Christian Workers Union has been negotiating on behalf of its members at D.F.C. for the past eight months, but despite numerous proposals and counterproposals on the issues at hand, common ground has not yet been reached. Pablo Cawich, the Chief Shop Steward for C.W.U. at D.F.C. told News Five this afternoon, “We are not protesting. We held an activity to motivate ourselves to continue working hard and to remind us that nothing can happen without the labour force and we are stronger together and need to be united”. During a press conference in February, President of the Christian Workers Union, Evan “Mose” Hyde, brought the D.F.C. issue to light, but only briefly, in a general statement about all the matters the Union is dealing with. 

Evan “Mose”Hyde

Evan “Mose”Hyde, President, Christian Workers Union [File: February 24, 2022]

“We serve twelve units Belize. At this time we have multiple C.B.A. negotiations that we are a part of. We have multiple units that have outstanding issues that we have to deal with, form members that are a part of the Citrus Industry, to our brothers and sister of both the respective City Councils in Belize City and Belmopan, professional workers of Social Security Board, D.F.C. which finds itself right now at this point in time, faced with a management decision that wants the wages to be cut by ten percent. These are all a significant part of our daily realities.”

We continue to follow.