N.T.U.C.B. sends a strong message to government

Marvin Mora

According to the Prime Minister Dean Barrow, government coffers are overflowing and there are millions upon millions of dollars to hand out. That’s what the U.D.P. leader told constituents of Cayo Northeast during a tour a week ago. According to Barrow, there will be unprecedented spending in Cayo Northeast. In fact, in the PM’s own words, quote – “The kind of spending that you will now begin to see by this Government in the Cayo Northeast Constituency is the kind of spending that nowhere in this country has ever been seen before,” unquote. Not surprisingly, those words have raised the ire of teachers and public officers, who have been left in the cold with requests for a salary adjustment. Today the N.T.U.C.B.’s Marvin Mora told News Five that the union held a general meeting this past weekend, and they’re not happy with the PM.

Marvin Mora, 2^nd Vice President, N.T.U.C.B.

“We are of course vex due to the facts that are being presented to us. In this case, we have the government which keeps telling our people at the negotiating tables, we don’t have money fi give unu no raise. And it is not gonna happen this year and it will have to be the next three years if unu want it. And on the hand, we have the same government going out public and saying we have enough money…what’s the problem. And I know that eventually they are going to turn that into some sort of merry-go-round and say we never mean it for that, we meant it for this. But the reality is that the government indeed can afford it. If they were to spend money wisely, they can afford it. We are not saying that they are evil people; we are not saying that they do this intentionally…that will be left up to their conscience because only you know what intentions you have. But what we are saying is that if they institute the monetary systems in place—not only in the PAC, but also at the Senate level and other controls that are in place with the government—that would allow government to spend more wisely and they would have more than enough to give the teachers or give the public servants the necessary raise.”

Reporter

“Can you speak to rising tensions in the unions? I remember back in 2005, when you could tell everything seemed to just momentum on top of momentum and the unions provided the numbers for the movement—maybe the impetus came somewhere else, but the unions provided the numbers. Do you see something like that? Do you see us reaching to that point?”

Marvin Mora

“I’m hoping not. But like you I’m becoming skeptical. I’m becoming skeptical because on one hand, we have a national trade union congress that represents basically the same group of people that elect government. If you sit down and look at it, the workers represent the good majority of voters that would put back a party in power. And on the other hand, we have a government that seems to be not respecting that fact. And when that happens it is a very bad combination for the country and it definitely steps up the ante and will have the unions start to rise and make that move for a change if they see that need for a change.”

The unions formed an integral part of mass movement against the previous administration which started in 2005 and led to weeks of unrest.