B.N.T.U. Addresses Give-and-Take of Negotiation
Luke Palacio
Speaking after the PM’s press conference much later in the evening on Thursday, B.N.T.U. president described the meeting as even more difficult than the previous. The eight points presented to government have not been addressed and fulfilled in their entirety but there is a willingness to return to the negotiating table. B.N.T.U. President Luke Palacio casually dismissed naysayers by maintaining that more could have been done to satisfy their demands.
Luke Palacio, National President, B.N.T.U.
“We have said that these are our demands. We believe that the prime minister could have done better and more importantly than that, when we start to look at those individuals and those who might be saying that we are unreasonable. They have their reason for saying that simply because they are enjoying the sweets that we are not enjoying.”
Reporter
“Sir, at what point does the B.N.T.U. assess and say, “We have gone this far, this is becoming a battle for who is more stubborn to give ground.” When do you all make that determination?”
Luke Palacio
“We determine that day by day.”
Reporter
“Mr. Palacio, are you concerned now that perhaps the Prime Minister will seek these issues to the N.T.U.C.B. instead of your union and perhaps that could, in a sense, overshadow the role you are playing in these issues?”
Luke Palacio
“In a meeting today we clearly articulated to the Prime Minister the role of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize. He, in fact, admitted that he did not know the inner workings of the [National] Trade Union Congress of Belize. No doubt, he pointed out that he was made, or that type of information that he has articulated in a letter was made known to him by the president of the N.T.U.C.B. In other words, the president of the N.T.U.C.B. made him understand that the N.T.U.C.B. is a bargaining agent and in any organization, in the labor movement you have an umbrella organization which is, in the case of Belize, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, but that is not a bargaining unit. The bargaining units in the N.T.U.C.B. are the individual unions that have their autonomy and they bargain on behalf of the workers that they represent.”
