N.T.U.C.B. President to G.O.B.: Unfreeze Public Officers’ Increment Immediately!

Luke Martinez

Earlier we heard the President of the N.T.U.C.B speak on the shortages within the public health sector. When he spoke with us today, Luke Martinez said that there are a number of things that concern the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, such as inflation, and the cost of fuel. Martinez said that the congress, through the Social Partnership Committee, has also submitted a paper to the prime minister on ways and means that it could advise the government to manage energy costs. But along with that, Martinez also shared his views on the government’s decision to increase the C.E.O.’s allowance. And he said there are other priorities to consider.

Luke Martinez, President, N.T.U.C.B

“We have been sacrificing even before COVID, all of us public officers. In fact, when they started their cost-savings, we gave up as much as eighty-five million dollars, thereabout. And we’re seeing where the government continues to make supplementary after supplementary. Obviously, whenever you have to come and do a supplementary it means that you’re not managing the budget properly and it’s a result of budget failure. So it can’t be that you’re paying everyone and you can’t pay the public officers, the people who drive this economy. And if you were to ask any public officer what’s his or her take on the C.E.O.’s receiving double on entertainment allowance, entertainment allowance. They’re entertaining people when you have people who can’t even afford to buy a slice of bread because everything has gone up, skyrocketed. I think that the leaders should be focusing on how wages could satisfy the needs of the working class of this country. The government should be focused on how we could address inflation. Instead of the government focuses on trying to satisfy entertainment for C.E.O.’s, we have a lot of important things that they need to address in this country. And of course the public officers’ increment is important. The message as it relates to public officers’ increment is that it should be unfrozen immediately.”