But, the Belize National Teachers Union, doesn't want to hear it.
This afternoon - after the IMF report came out, we spoke with the President of BNTU about the initial sentiments coming from the union's membership. Via zoom teleconference, she told us that the teachers are strongly resisting any suggestion of a pay cut:
Reporter
"What is the common sentiment that you are receiving at this time to the suggestion by the government that this has to take place that this pay cut has to happen?"
Hon. Elena Smith, President, BNTU
"Outright no. That has been the initial position. Our teachers are saying no, absolutely not. They don't feel that is the only solution that the government can come up with. They feel that for so long they have been clamoring to meaningful change and that has not been happening and so they think that at this point in time there has to be serious changes with the way we operate in legislative changes. A difference in how the government operates, change in their behavior in terms of spending before we can even get to that point that they would even consider a salary cut."
Reporter
"The IMF - I don't know if you've seen their most recent report on their visit to Belize - if we don't out debt under control we risk a devaluation of the Belizean dollar."
Hon. Elena Smith, President, BNTU
"That may indeed be so that we have to take a look at the wage bill. We have never said that is not needed, but what we are saying it's not the regular employee, the regular public officer, regular teacher who has the bill where it is. Yes, combined we account for a huge portion, but there are also those other persons who are getting huge packages as well, those are included in there and so if it is that we try to fix the situation by cutting people's salary, then it means that we have less spending. Who will be the ones putting those monies or spend those monies out there? How will those businesses benefit from us getting a salary cut and how will the economy benefit? So it didn't take us a year to get to where we are and it certainly can't take us 3 months to fix what has happened over the past number of years and so we have to look at it from that viewpoint that there are other measures that this government can do in terms of collecting what is out there to collect in ensuring that they are not giving persons any passes in terms of paying their taxes that they have to pay - maybe to customs and they want to get a pass. Those things must stop, so that those monies can be collected and that will help the economy hugely. Its not just about looking at salaries. There has to be other ways and means that we can do what we need to do to fix this economy. Nobody wants devaluation. It's not going to be good for any of us. We are paid based on our qualification and so it doesn't matter how much work we put extra we don't get any overtime. We have limited allowances that we get as teachers whereas on the other hand the allowances are far better than what we have and more and so again we are looking at this thing being done fairly and in an equitable manner and they don't feel that the government will give up 10% of their salary is fair enough because of what all we have to give up and what we have to endure in just doing our daily job."
Later on in the news, we'll give a historical context into how the relationship between PM Briceno and Teachers has changed, now that his administration is the government of the day.
