Finally, G.O.B. and Joint Unions Enter Negotiations

The Joint Unions Negotiating Team and representatives of the Briceño administration resumed discussion on Tuesday afternoon.  That meeting was held at the House of Culture here in Belize City and lasted for almost six and a half hours. Both parties later exited the compound at around seven p.m.  Today, when we spoke with the President of the Public Service Union, Gerald Henry, he was unable to provide specific details of the meeting because discussions with government are still ongoing.  He did, however, mentioned that the discussions were cordial and that the joint unions finally feel that they have entered negotiations.

Gerald Henry

Gerald Henry, President, P.S.U.

“As it relates to the atmosphere of the meeting, usually our meetings tend to be very cordial, and you know it always appears as if though we are there to achieve something, and that remains the case.   It seems to me that it tended more towards being now a negotiation as opposed to prior to that, which would have been simply the government consulting with us to satisfy the law, as we kept saying. We are hoping that we could have some meaningful discussion going forward. So, we are hoping that we could have some meaningful discussion going forward with the hope that it will continue to be a negotiation or that it will be a full-fledged negotiation. Because we want to try to end this impasse as well, as quickly as possible.  We have to communicate with our membership what has taken place, what is expected to take place, tomorrow especially and perhaps a few days into next week. We see what they say about it and then we take back their position to the government. When we speak we don’t speak for ourselves. We speak the voice of our membership. So that is what we communicate to the government. The government will then in turn will do like what we are doing, and communicate what their leadership, which is of course the reverse of how we work, because of course we are a true democracy.”

The joint unions are set to meet with G.O.B. representatives at ten a.m. tomorrow morning.  We were not able to get any response from the government’s side on yesterday’s meeting. But the Minster responsible for Public Service, Henry Charles Usher, did inform News Five by text today that Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde may speak tomorrow at the conclusion of that meeting.