The B.N.T.U.’s representatives rushed out of the Biltmore to their meeting without speaking to the press. However, the heads of the Public Service Union and Association of Public Service Senior Managers briefed the press for the first time as the other two-thirds of the Joint Union Negotiating Team. Both unions have promised to begin consulting […]
According to Senior Magistrate Frazer, it is important to note that the P.S.U. and A.P.S.S.M., unlike the B.N.T.U., do not believe there is presently an industrial dispute because negotiations have continued. Sharon Frazer, President, Association of Public Service Senior Managers “The thing about it is that the issues of good governance have been on […]
When the William “Danny” Mason affair exploded in July, the man most affected was then-Minister of National Security John Saldivar. It didn’t take twenty-four hours after his arrest for Saldivar to disassociate himself from the shady Canadian/Guyanese with many names and many doings. But News Five has obtained documents showing that Mason was a shareholder […]
Of eighteen persons initially charged in connection with the December home invasion at the house of Sarkis Abou-Nehra, twelve have been freed of charges. In an update, police said that all twenty-one DNA results are still not back. Today, Regional Commander of the Rural Eastern Division, Assistant Commissioner of Police Edward Broaster reassured the media […]
Who excluded the Dorian Pakeman cocaine positive forensic lab test from the file that went to the D.P.P.? This is in connection with the fatal traffic accident in which the Director of Government Press Office Pakeman was driving a vehicle that knocked down and killed Dean Dawson in March earlier this year. It was later […]
A shutdown of businesses by members of the business community is off the table. This follows meetings between the Prime Minister and the President of the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry in which the PM made certain undertakings to the private sector. The B.C.C.I. membership, last week Wednesday, agreed to the shut down if […]
At news time tonight, six Belizeans are safely back home after being held briefly by a Guatemalan coastal patrol vessel. The men were fishing in the Gulf of Honduras when they were intercepted by the Guatemalan patrol in an area at sea at a point between the mouth of the Moho River, Toledo and Punta […]
Teachers remained away from the classrooms today as the strike entered a third week. But this morning, COLA called a fiery press conference, standing room only at the Radisson’s VIP Room, to say that it has teachers’ back. Geovannie Brackett, the president of the socially active grassroots organization, says enough is enough because government has […]
For each of the demands by teachers for good governance, COLA is demanding G.O.B. to take action. Brackett says that government cannot continue to bury its head in the sand in the face of rampant corruption. Geovannie Brackett, President, COLA “The people demand good governance and an end to corruption. Our prime minister seems […]
The B.N.T.U. has been weathering the storm almost alone, albeit with the support of parents, as the strike continues. At the press conference, the B.P.P.’s Patrick Rogers, expressed support and called on the private sector to also show muscle for the teachers. Patrick Rogers, Political Leader, B.P.P. “Today the B.P.P. stands in hundred percent […]
Lending moral support to their teachers were two sixth form students who made spirited presentations to the gathering. A call for other trade unions to join in the teachers’ protest has also been made, with a special invitation being extended to the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Marcia Cervantes, Student “Don’t you, my […]
The Belize National Teachers’ Union will continue its industrial action into a third week, possibly matching the length of the 2005 strike called after then-Prime Minister Said Musa introduced tough economic measures. This time the issues are broader, encompassing both labour and good governance. At a press conference this afternoon in Belize City, B.N.T.U. president […]
During the meeting between the B.N.T.U. and the PM on Thursday, President Luke Palacio says that there was agreement that the presidents of the B.N.T.U., the Association of the Public Service Senior Managers and the Public Service Union would meet with the Prime Minister on Monday afternoon. According to B.N.T.U., PM Barrow has now backtracked […]
The Prime Minister met until into the evening with the B.N.T.U. on Thursday. When he emerged from that meeting he told the media that there was agreement on many of the eight demands of the union. The salary adjustment, Social Security coverage for incidents happening away from work and pension coverage for support staff and […]
For the first time since the strike began, there appears to be a division established in the solid eight-point agenda of the B.N.T.U. – nine, if the salary adjustment on which they are jointly negotiating with the Public Service Union and Association of Public Service Senior Managers is included. Today, former General Secretary George Frazer […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Bill is among a few demands that the trade unions, including the B.N.T.U., have with the business community. It is the final point on a list of demands put together by teachers. That item was removed from the agenda during Thursday’s discussion as it was agreed that B.N.T.U. will address […]
Speaking after the PM’s press conference much later in the evening on Thursday, B.N.T.U. president described the meeting as even more difficult than the previous. The eight points presented to government have not been addressed and fulfilled in their entirety but there is a willingness to return to the negotiating table. B.N.T.U. President Luke Palacio […]
Earlier today, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry advised its members that it is yet to receive a formal response to a letter written to the Prime Minister on their positions taken in respect of a shutdown of businesses countrywide and their withdrawal from the senate select committee. When he was asked about support […]
It has been a bad week for the Prime Minister, aside from the pressures of the strike by teachers and the decision for a shutdown by the business community as well as its withdrawal from the Senate Select Investigation, the land hustle at the Ministry of Natural Resources is adding pressure to the current political […]
On Thursday night, the Prime Minister was asked about the scandalous hustle. His reaction was captured in less than thirty seconds. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “No, no, no, yuh see, no man. Then yuh the use emotive and judgmental language. No man. We are here to talk about the B.N.T.U. and what happened today. […]
The Opposition People’s United Party is going after Prime Minister Dean Barrow once more on the Belize Telemedia Limited Settlement Agreement and is calling for his resignation. It has been confirmed that Government paid off sixty-seven and a half million U.S. dollars as the first payment toward the Agreement, after the original payment in Belize […]
U.D.P. Minister and party whip Michael Finnegan, together with Albert Area Representative Tracy Panton, held a press conference this afternoon at the party’s headquarters, shortly after the B.N.T.U. concluded a media briefing of its own this afternoon. Finnegan and Panton are appealing to teachers to return to their classrooms, since according to them, during Thursday’s […]
Panton and Finnegan maintain that good governance is an inclusive process which should see equal responsibility from each of the social partners. They have since turned to the teachers to ask them what more do they want from government. Tracy Panton, Area Representative, Albert “I cannot understand how reasonably, when all these conditions have […]
It’s been officially two weeks since students have not been in the classrooms. Today, a News Five crew took to the streets to poll residents on whether government should give in to all the demands made by the teachers. Here’s what they had to say. Resident # 1 “Like I have mentioned to friends, […]
Former President of NICH, Diane Haylock is currently doing the cocktail circuit in Taipei as Belize’s new ambassador to Taiwan. Since Haylock vacated the post she held since the first Barrow administration, Greg Vernon was named interim President. But the department is going through some major changes because there are a number of others vacant […]
