B.N.T.U. Says Meeting was Cordial
Elena Smith
National President of the Belize National Teachers Union Senator Elena Smith says that the meeting was cordial. Smith says the government was open to suggestions. However, they did not discuss the matter of a wage cut.
Senator Elena Smith, National President, B.N.T.U.
“The minister presented to us the situation with the country, what is the economic situation and what it is that the government needs to achieve in terms of the deficit that we have.”
Hipolito Novelo
“Did the B.N.T.U. make any proposals in terms of the way forward?”
Senator Elena Smith
“We shared with them as we have normally done the cost saving measures and revenue enhancement measures. We also shared with them some of the concerns with our members in terms of what would be the plan in being able to bridge that deficit debt.”
Hipolito Novelo
“Is the B.N.T.U. completely opposed to a salary freeze or wage cut? What that discussed?”
Senator Elena Smith
“Well we did not have a discussion in terms of whether there is going to be a salary cut definitely but we discussed what are the areas and what are the things that need to be done to ensure that we can bridge that gap. We will be having some documentation coming from the government or from the ministry that they can provide to us so that we can see what has been done so far, what those will yield in terms of the proposed measures and then what would be left for us to be able consider in terms of how we would bridge that remaining balance and when that time comes then we are going to be discussing what other measures need to be put in place.”
Hipolito Novelo
“It’s the COVID-19 pandemic can the government really enhance revenue collections during this time?”
Senator Elena Smith
“Well there are thing that we believe that a government internally they can do to assist in that area. We know that a lot of our people have not been employed and so they are not contributing but there are measures that they can take internally and also externally to be able to do that.”
Hipolito Novelo
“How would you describe the atmosphere of the meeting?”
Senator Elena Smith
“It was very cordial, very respectful. We were able to present our view points and we were able to ask question and we were able to be honest and open with the discussions.”
