B.N.T.U. President Says the Chamber Had No Idea

Elena Smith

When the dispute became public, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry weighed in saying that the unions were out of touch with the current reality of COVID-19 and the detrimental effects it has had on thousands of Belizeans. The sentiments of the Chamber were interpreted as a scolding to the P.S.U. and today Elena Smith told News Five that the Chamber was out of line since it had no idea about the status of the negotiations at the time.

Elena Smith, National President, B.N.T.U.

“The Chamber had no idea what we discussed in our meeting. Nobody reached out to us to find out from us whether the press conference what the prime minister had and what he said was so and what was the reason behind, if it is if we were back to square one, what was the reason. So for the Chamber to put out a release to be saying those things about I believe they were referring to the P.S.U., I think was quite unfair because they could have reached out and they could have get more information.”

Hipolito Novelo

“Do you believe that the chamber’s press release was out of place or was a clap back to what the P.S.U. first vice president had said that the private sector had failed to pay forty eight or fifty two percent of taxes to the government?”

Elena Smith

“Possibly but we have to remember one thing. They always say when you point the finger one comes back at you. And so if it is for example we are saying that the public officers and not doing or are not properly collecting or are bribing bride. If that is so who does the bribing? They can’t bribe themselves. So sometimes we have to be careful when we accused persons of things because we might be implicating ourselves in those things.”