Yesterday we showed you how some forty employees of the Belize Waste Control picketed in front of the city hall because they wanted their pay. The problem was that the City Council didn't have the money to pay the company, money owed for three months of work.
The protest continued briefly today and then stopped - after a check was cut by the Council for ninety thousand dollars, about a third of the arrears.
It suggests that public pressure works - but to hear Deputy Mayor Philloughby tell it, the matter was in hand - it just looked out of hand:….
Phillip Willoughby, Deputy Mayor
"The cheque was dealt with from yesterday, the whole procedures was dealt with from yesterday. Unfortunately things didn't had to get to where it was yesterday but we totally understand the position of the company as well as our other creditors as far as our obligations go but I think the issue was that whilst I was away for a bit and Mr. Lamb express in the conversation that they had yesterday a reasonable understanding leading up to that point couldn't have been met but I am grateful that my intervention along with the mayors guidance we resolve this situation quite quickly yesterday."
George Lamb- Manager Belize Waste Control
"We did receive 2 payments from Belize City Council and we are so thankful of that, that will enable us in effect put our trucks on the road immediately and however we are hoping that there would be a sign agreement from the council to help us to deal with the service on the long run because the 2 payments will help us to get over the hump but our service is not for a day or a week, we are hoping that sometime during the course of the day we will get some document in writing from the saying that yes we will commit our self to paying you guys off what we owed."
Andrea Polanco
"So in terms of your employees they will be getting paid?"
George Lamb- Manager Belize Waste Control
"No doubt about that, we could pay them this week, we are hoping that next week we could get a payment from the council and we could subsequently make further payments."
Phillip Willoughby, Deputy Mayor
"The relationship we share and so forth maybe didn't had to really get to the extent it did but no fault of theirs but I hope that being back in the picture that Waste Control and us don't have to go back to square one in terms of not being satisfied in the areas on schedule payments as well as coming to the table to sit down and talk rationally and respectfully between both entities."
George Lamb- Manager Belize Waste Control
"This goes to the residence of Belize City that Waste Control given the situation we have experience recently and the support we've been having from the public because we have gotten quite a bit of calls in support that we will have all our trucks out on the Southside of Belize City this afternoon up until 5 o' clock and so to help us to be more efficient we would encourage you to bag your garbage and put it out there, we will be working Southside today Wednesday and Friday, north side will be work on Thursday, we will be having extra trucks on the run and if your garbage is bag and out it makes us more efficient in removing the waste from Belize City, that's what we are here to do."
Lamb also told us that the City Council had told him that by February the arrears would be cleared, but up to late this afternoon no documented commitment of a payment schedule was made. He went on to say that if by the end of the day nothing is in black & white, then the employees will be demonstrating again tomorrow.
We'll wait and see how that goes, but for right now, we are thankful that most of the garbage that had been piling up since Monday has been collected…
