B.D.F. Civilian employees get a raise

David Jones

Recently the British government announced that it is downsizing its troop numbers at BATSUB Headquarters in Price Barracks at Ladyville. Over a hundred of the one hundred and sixty local employees will lose employment over the year. But while locals who work at BATSUB are about to receive their final pay slips, the civilian employees of the Belize Defense Force at Price Barracks and at other stations, are finally seeing an increase on theirs.   According to Lieutenant Colonel David Jones, B.D.F.’s Chief of Staff, the salary increases will come in April.

Lt. Col. David Jones, B.D.F. Chief of Staff

“Yesterday the minister arrived here at Price Barracks and had a meeting with our civilian employees—these are primarily the open vote workers.  Our open vote workers have been working with the Belize Defense Force for over twenty-five years and they have not been receiving any increment because of the fixed salary that they had. But what the minister brought yesterday was a letter confirming that their status has changed which means that they will now be paid on a regular pay scale. So every year, depending on their performance, they will be getting an increment. We had a total of fifty-four of these civilians who received these letters yesterday. There is still an outstanding of eight more, which will total the number to sixty-two. So we got sixty-two open vote workers; fifty four received their letters yesterday and we expect the remaining eight to receive their letters probably within the next two weeks or so.”

Jose Sanchez

“So this is good news for workers.

Lt. Col. David Jones

“This is good news for the workers. We have civilian workers working countrywide at the different B.D.F. installations. Some of them are employed as employees working in the laundry, some working as telephone exchange operators, some of them have specialized skills like plumbers, masonry, electrician, and they do other maintenance work, grounds keeping on the base. And they haven’t been receiving an increase in salary for years. And so this is welcomed news that as of next year, April first, based on the performance if they deserve an increment, they will get an increment.”