Senator Paul Perriott resigns from Telemedia
Senator Paul Perriott, who was appointed to represent trade unions in the National Assembly, is tonight without a job after tendering his resignation to the management of B.T.L. last Friday. It is big news because Paul is a member of the Belize Communications Workers Union and is considered a strong supporter of the U.D.P. government that nationalized Telemedia in 2009. But Paul gained prominence during the riots of 2005 when Telemedia was closed down and the country was isolated from communications with the outside world. A very calm Paul told News Five today that his forced resignation as senior technician was triggered by endless efforts to frustrate his attempts to secure twenty-three percent of Telemedia shares for employees. Paul is the husband of Christine Perriott, who was once fired, reinstated then resigned from Telemedia. Like his wife, Paul says it’s a case of déjà vu and he is exploring his legal options. His relationship with the company’s management turned sour in September of last year when he was transferred to Dangriga under what he calls a deliberate act of union busting. Perriott is now claiming that the government supported management has accused him of being a traitor because he is advocating workers’ rights.
Isani Cayetano
“You have basically been labeled a traitor by the board of directors for sticking up for the rights of workers. You’re alleging that the board adamantly believes that your motives were political. Is this so?”
Senator Paul Perriott, President, B.C.W.U.
Paul Perriott
“Well definitely no. [Uhm] I continue to say that my side has always been with the workers. I believe that definitely there should have been some benefit from those shares for the workers and I was labeled a traitor because of going to a meeting that Dean Boyce had called for all the employees of B.T.L. to try to explain the issue of shares and where we were with it. But categorically I can state no, I mean I am a B.T.L. employee. I am there for the B.T.L. workers. I believe that I took up the presidency in September again to try to champion the whole cause of workers that have been degraded. People were being terminated for political reasons and definitely we could not stand for that as a union.”
Isani Cayetano
Isani Cayetano
“Senator Perriott, over your eleven year tenure as an employee of B.T.L., two successive governments have taken office and despite the fact that the Belize Communications Workers Union was initially fully supported by the then opposition it is apparent that the current U.D.P. administration has turned its back on the concerns of the B.C.W.U. Can you begin by telling us where the government stands with regards to workers’ rights after Telemedia’s nationalization in 2009?”
Senator Paul Perriott
“Well [uhm] I could say as per my statement that things have gone, I would say, from bad to worse. [Uhm] employees within B.T.L. are scared for their jobs. As is right now they’ve been threatened if they support any action of the union. They would face grave discipline so members are really concerned. [Uhm] we have not been able to get the elected representatives of September of 2010 to be recognized by the management of B.T.L. They have opposed the election that the members actually voted for a new executive so we believe strongly that there are issues with the management of the company and the B.C.W.U. members.”
Paul, I don’t know why you didn’t see this one coming. This Government will not keep anyone on its payroll who wants to make waves. They are looking for “yes men” and “flunkies”, not strong independent minded people, with common sense and integrity.
The government and administration of the U.D.P. doing what they do best and no-one is an exception to the rule of the long arms of the Dean Barrow’s Laws!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAD! SAD!SAD!
On Feb. 15 of this year, Mr. Barrow said in an interview with Amandala: ” In opposition you campaign in poetry but, you govern in pross”. That is enough for you to make your own interpretation. Back in 2008, Mr. Barrow would say and do whatever the people wanted in order to get in power but had no intention to follow with his promises. He was successful in poisoning the mind of the people. The unions on the other hand, partnered with Mr. Barrow because they hated anything that looked and smelled like Musa. Ch’oc, Sulph and Perriot just to name a few. I am not defending Musa, but there was no one more willing to sit at the negotiating
table with the unions than Musa himself. Back then after feb 8, 2008 I said. ” If today you honorable NGO and UNION LEADERS have acted in honor and good faith with Mr. Barrow then may you all be happy with him and also may you enjoy him and that he may also enjoy you and be happy with you but if not; may fire come out of you honorable leaders and consume Barrow and may fire come out of Barrow and destroy you all”. (Judges 9:19-20) Sulph, Ch’oc and Perriott are now at Barrow’s throat and Barrow is at their throat too. All these is only coming attraction.
We only supported the unions because we wanted power, common people you all cannot be so naive to think that we would allow these union things to keep operating, it took a while but we are finally getting rid of them after all if unions continue to proliferate they will only be cutting into our share of the wealth now why would we allow such a thing to happen that would just really mess up our wealth building legacy scheme, Paul I am surprise at you, if they got your wife out of there, how long you thought it would have been before your turn comes around, it’s all about the money man and we love money we want it all for ourselves we don’t give a darn about any employees. Remember, My Legacy B 4 my People.
another case of this corrupt gov. stealing money from the public when are you going to lash this corrupt gov. my belizeans they are stealing the bread out of your childrens mouths and you sit back and do nothing wake up wake up my belizeans lets get rid of this scurge of a gov . resign barrow resignnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn before i stone you with mi shoes.
I sympathize with Paul in what he is going through. Paul needs to rally his union members and help them in standing up against what is happening at BTL. The same thing is happening at SSB and in case the connection has not been made, both organizations are run by the same person………. Enough is Enough! Time for unions to wake up and take a stand before more people are forced or frustrated to resign…..
Its the same at SSB after 2005 strong union leaders who led the unon in Febuary of that year were place in uncomfortable positions where they were eventually forced to resign. Other union members were offer big loans and now have large houses and scholarships to become quiet. Others have now become managers of department and so fort just to kick out the strenght of the union. I believe there are more untold stories from other organizations as well . UDP did this so that they would not have wat happen in 2005 to happen to them.
people we put dem in power.. yet we are afraid ….people we are the power … lets not put these udp & pup in power.. lets make a change .. lets be different… power to the people …. the lack of faith is fear…..hopefully we all realize that we can make a difference
BTL has successfully joined the employers of banana and citrus in busting workers union. There is no organized union in the south as they are busted even before they are form in order to keep wages low. Successive government has encouraged this because these employers donate to campaign financing
@ south boy its more than union busting in the south. Its a slave trade that is going there. And both parties turn a blind eye to what the Zabaneh’s are doing.
The only other option in politics is the newly formed third party. Let’s support them!
Belize should riot like they are doing in the middle east and get the UDP out of power.
Hey Folks…..its about balance and “Fair Play”. Unions are there to protect the worker’s interest, Salaries and benifits. If they get too GREEDY and unreasonable then the system comes into Conflict……….Likewise……..Employers such as Government, Private Sector Companies……get too GREEDY and take advantage of their workers…….then there is conflict…….Therefore GREED is the problem. In the UNITED KINGDOM after Margaret Thatcher broke the Unions back working people lost a whole lot and have never recovered. BELIZE IS A POOR COUNTRY AND NEEDS UNIONS THAT FUNCTIONS EFFECTIVELY AND RESPONSIBLY!
Crazy, you damn crzy fi true!. We don’t need that in our country. There’s got to be another way because at the end of the day, we still won’t have the funds to rebuild our nation, not to mention the killing of innocent people. There are people in our country that don’t have a clue of what is going on in our country because of focusing on their daily struggle for just their basic needs. Both Partys has failed us the Belizean people not only by pulling wool over our eyes prior to all elections, but by the continuous deceptions and corruptions throughout the entire country. Mr. Perriott is just another Fall Guy and a dis-owned Political First Family. “Dem di !-$% demselves properly fi mek di whole world see”. What and who’s next Mr. Barrow?.
Wake up, Wise up &
Wake up, Wise up & Rise up Belizeans!!!!!! It is time for some meaningful CHANGE!!!!! PNP is the way to go in 2013! Read the signs of the time!!! Unions, NGO’s Youths, etc now is the time for all wise men to come to the aid of their Country. Belizeans RALLY FOR CHANGE!! DEAN MUST GO!!!