Who Will Cover Difference in Cost of GAMAS Salaries?
Shyne Barrow
At the last sitting of the House of Representatives on December seventh, the Minister of Education announced that the salaries of teachers and principals at all granted-aided secondary schools will be paid in full by the Government of Belize. But did it come with a catch and who will foot the bill for the thirty percent difference? According to the Leader of the Opposition, that the balance will be covered by public officers since there is no contributory fund in place.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
“There is an old cliché, the devil is in the details. So when the Minister of Education got up and pronounced that the teachers would be getting a hundred percent of their salaries, whereas in some schools they were only getting seventy percent. You know, I must highlight to the Belizean people that that will come with a new contributory pension plan where, for the first time now, public officers will be contributing to the fund and that is what is going to pay for this increase. So again, the government is not doing anything noble or generous. Just as in the case of the port. And I must place on record that the UDP, when honorable member from Collet, Patrick Faber, was Minister of Education, had made the same presentation proposal to the unions, but they had wanted it to be retroactive for all the years that you were a teacher, whereas now, they are settling for the same thing that the honorable Faber had proposed which is five years back. And, at that time, there was no contributory fund envisioned although the former minister says that it is something we would have eventually had to come to terms with. So again, but we just need to put it on the table, to be clear, that the UDP did make this exact proposal. The minister informs me that the churches did not want to participate because they felt that they wanted to remain with the independence that they have, so they have changed their position. But we did propose that to the teachers.”
