A Retrospective on the Unions and G.O.B.’s Salary Cut Impasse
Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa has weighed in on the impasse between government and the unions. That stalemate, however, did not occur overnight. In fact, it was several weeks in the making, beginning with PM Briceño refuting the idea that budget consultations held with the unions back in February were not discussions to introduce a salary cut. In contextualizing what has brought the negotiations to a halt, News Five’s Isani Cayetano looks back at what has transpired since February eighth.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
The Briceño administration will present its draft 2021 financial plan in the House of Representatives on Friday, despite staunch opposition by the joint unions to an imminent ten percent wage cut. The reduction in salary has become necessary due to the dismal state of the country’s economy. It’s a crisis situation that has been brought about by excess borrowing under the previous administration. Consultations between government and the joint unions began back in February and at the time Prime Minister John Briceño, while campaigning ahead of the municipal elections, rejected the notion of a salary cut.
John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño [File: February 8th, 2021]
“That is not a proposal from the government. What we have been doing, we said that we are going to have consultations and consultations mean that you present the facts. These are the facts, this is in front of us, now you tell us what are your ideas in how we can close this gap. Fact the U.D.P. left us with a deficit of five hundred million dollars. It took previous governments from 1981 to 2008 for us to borrow more than five hundred million dollars. The U.D.P. government has left us in a hole of five hundred million dollars in one year, we are short of over three hundred million dollars.”
That gaping hole, in spite of the prime minister’s initial position that his administration was only consulting with the unions, would eventually become a burden to be shouldered by teachers and public officers. Perhaps it was the looming March third elections that prompted the PM to tone down government’s stance on the salary cut discussion. Two days after a resounding victory at the polls, it was announced that government intended to reduce the wage bill at the unions’ expense.
Dean Flowers
Dean Flowers, First Vice President, P.S.U. [File: March 5th, 2021]
“We’re already engaged in an increment freeze and so, in essence, proposal number two would effectively be putting us in four increment freezes. That would yield twenty million dollars and also I must make mention that the government’s targeted number where the deficit is concerned, where the wage bill is concerned, the target number is eighty million dollars. So from an increment standpoint they are projecting a savings of around twenty million [dollars]. So the proposal where salaries are concerned of course would be tied to the remaining sixty million dollars. But like I said, we have to carefully look at whether or not that sixty million dollars can and should only come from wages or if it can come from another source, whether it would be some other cuts in other areas or as I have been saying repeatedly, identifying a possible increase in revenues where there are leakages because at this point in time of course, it would make absolutely no sense for us to have a discussion surrounding any new taxes as a result of the current pandemic that we’re in.”
When asked about the proposed salary cut, Senator Elena Smith, President of the Belize National Teachers Union, maintained that sacrifices are already being made by teachers who have to foot the bill for classroom expenses.
Elena Smith
Senator Elena Smith, President, B.N.T.U. [File: March 9th, 2021]
“As teachers, we fall under a different way of working as compared to the regular public officers and so you would know that teachers have to provide almost everything for their classrooms out of pocket. And so that is a huge concern because if my salary is being cut by whatever percent, that is eight, five or seven, ten [percent] whatever is, it would mean that as a teacher I would have less to put into my classroom to able to teach my students and so we have to look into all those things. Recall that the persons paid by government do not only include teachers and public officers, you know, we have other groups, B.D.F., police, all of those who are also paid by government and those persons would be affected.”
The round of negotiations would continue for several weeks and into the Easter weekend. On Tuesday, PSU President Gerald Henry responded to the question of the unions being pressured to meet government’s timeline.
Gerald Henry
Gerald Henry, President, Public Service Union [File: April 6th, 2021]
“I wouldn’t say that there is not pressure considering the fact that, like you said, there is a timeline and what can happen if it is that we don’t try to right this ship ourselves. But again, we have to make sure that membership drives this decision and so whatever it takes or how many times we have to go back to our membership to get a mandate, we have to do that. We cannot make the decision on our own simply because we are considered the leaders of our various unions.”
On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Briceño, in a recorded statement, announced that government will proceed with the ten percent salary cut which will be presented in the 2021 budget on Friday. The unions are now left to respond as a collective on the way forward regarding the logjam. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
