Belize City Mayor David Fonseca met with the city's disgruntled former sanitation workers and their union this afternoon and told them it is not that the city doesn't want to pay them off, the reality is there just isn't any money.
Since Tuesday the workers have been asking for their severance pay. It is money which is rightly due to them because on Tuesday their employment with CITCO was terminated and they were immediately rehired by two private firms. But three days after CITCO gave the workers their walking papers, they still haven't been paid benefits and today the Mayor told us quite simply that "no money noh deh."
David Fonseca, Belize City Mayor
“We have been negotiating to try and put the funds together. As you know it’s not a little bit of money. It’s quite a bit of money. Our negotiations so far have not come through as we thought it would have had but we continue to pursue it and we are in dire straits to put it right.”
Jules Vasquez,
While you have financial situations to work out these people need their money and they feel that you are treating them like dirt because they sweep up dirt.
David Fonseca,
“We have never considered them that way. They have gotten their pay every week from they started to work and even this week they’ve gotten their last pay from us that was due to them. Because as you know when you start to work with the council a week’s pay is held back. That payment was made yesterday for them so they have that today for them to get. And I think they all know of that, if not yesterday by now, because they have been checking the various institutions where their pay goes so they are not left out in the open.”
Jules Vasquez,
Do you have any idea on the outside when they’ll get their money?
David Fonseca,
“During the course of this coming week.”
Alfonso Noble,
Is the council strapped for cash right now?
David Fonseca,
“To answer that question directly the council is always strapped for cash. As you know the council operates strictly on revenues derived from taxes and fees and if we don’t get them in as scheduled then we’ll be strapped for cash and that continues today.”
For the 220 employees that were terminated the Mayor Fonseca estimates CITCO will need to come up with $660,000.