Pay cut prompts security guard walkout at Tourism Village
Disputes between employers and employees over wages and working conditions are nothing new but a situation taking place in the Fort Street Tourism Village has one important sector of the labour force crying foul. And not without reason. At a time of rapidly rising prices these workers are being told to take a major cut in pay. News Five’s Marion Ali has more.
Marion Ali, Reporting
This morning over twenty security officers employed by Fort Point Security Services at the Tourism Village walked off the job and stood outside the main office on Eyre Street. They claim their salaries for the past few weeks have not only been late but significantly reduced.
John Campos, Security Officer, Fort Point Security Services
“Deh tell we fi we pay deh dah the booth. So when I gone da di booth fi my salary I get three hundred and ninety dollars. How comes? I work thirteen days. Weh di next five days get to? I supposed to get six hundred and forty dollars. So I want know weh part my next two-fifty get to. Everybody get short. Man work twelve days, man di get hundred and forty-eight dollars.”
Robert Carr, Security Officer, Fort Point Security Services
“I just check da di bank and deh seh no pay. I want know weh gone on.”
Marion Ali
“You didn’t get a check like the rest?”
Robert Carr
“No, no check. Deh seh di money done gone through di bank since yesterday early.”
Lisborn Marin, Security officer, Fort Point Security Services
“Yesterday when we get wi check we notice that deh deduct one week pay, for what, we don’t know. They noh explain to we fi what. Mr. Zetina seh dat he already tell the supervisor that deh got wah memo deh fi we but he not even have wah meeting with us, verifying seh that they gonna deduct this from outta wi pay and he mek wah salary agreement, fifty dollars a day fi mek we work everyday, means dah like payments, but the point is now when pay day he only seh well alright, three days salary deduction. I seh fi what when you noh explain to we weh di go on. We mek wah agreement with you fi everyday we mek wah salary, fifty dollars flat salary. The point is now he di tell we holiday or no holiday we can’t get pay fi dat, like Christmas Day, tenth, twenty-first, that dah flat salary.”
But according to General Manager of the Village’s Security section, Carmen Zetina, his office has done nothing illegal by cutting the men’s work hours.
Carmen Zetina, General Manager, Fort Street Tourism Security
“In the past you had people earning twice of what they work for a week because they were working according to the overtime. I don’t need to explain”
Marion Ali
“And they’re saying they don’t collect for overtime now.”
Carmen Zetina
“They can’t collect because we decided to put a stop to it. One person can’t work ninety-six hours straight. So many hours of work without resting so we decided to employ more people and distribute the pile of employment equally among the Belizean people.”
But increasing its manpower and slashing work hours was just one part of the larger plan for change.
Carmen Zetina
“In the past month and a half that I’ve been here I know that there was some problem, well even in the past, even before that that when people go to the bank for the fifteenth the bank tell them that things had not been yet processed because we sent the payroll sometimes too late. We didn’t give them the forty-eight hours notice.”
Marion Ali
“And that’s still the case. One of the security officers said he noh collect ih pay yet.”
Carmen Zetina
“The thing is now that because of that the management decided to have a cut off date for payroll. The accountant put something in place, a new police, a cut off date and the cut off date for the first time since we’re introducing this thing was on the tenth of April. Everything worked between the first and the tenth will be paid on the fifteenth. That means that if you worked between the eleventh and the fifteenth every day worked will be carried forward into the next payday, which cut off date if I can recall is the twenty-eighth. So the carry forward plus the actual day’s work leading up to the twenty-eighth of April will be paid at the end of the month.”
But those changes and the time cut could not have come at a worse time for Cynthia Carr, who relies on her husband’s regular pay to make ends meet.
Cynthia Carr, Wife of Security Officer
“Right now da only he da di breadwinner fi fi we home. I have pain with my knees, with my heels, I da diabetic so I can’t work. Den we have di kids weh di go da school. Sometime I have to mek di lee one noh go, di older one go da school. Sometimes I tell he I wah keep di baby because I noh wah send ah if ih noh got nothing fi eat yet. So we have to wait and see weh finance wah come in from.”
And getting connected to a new job is what some men were already doing while we were waiting to speak with Zetina. These two men filled out their application forms for posts which at least five others, including this ex-officer, left behind when they resigned today for the same reasons. But while some are leaving for greener pastures, the one hundred and five officers who remain want to do so under their old arrangements.
John Campos
“All weh we want, straighten fi we salary and straighten everything and everybody go back pan deh post and everybody come da work normal.”
The security personnel said they were in the process of contacting one of the unions to review their case. Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.
In the security business it is not uncommon for entry level guards to receive low hourly wages but that is usually done with the understanding that on the basis of a twelve hour day there will be fifteen additional hours of guaranteed overtime at time and a half. The result is a long work week but at least a living wage.
