And while they continue to fight their fight, a large portion of the private sector is choosing to sit this one out. At the start of the pandemic, thousands either lost their jobs or received salary cuts up to 50 and 60 percent. So, for many of them, the ten percent doesn't seem like a big deal. But as the unions say, it's not just about the cuts, it's about the corruption.
For Elena Smith, says despite a split opinion in the private sector, she still feels that they do have the support of the general public.
Elena Smith - President, BNTU "Those kinds of comments are what we use to divide and conquer because the private sector, we feel for them and we hear but they were not given a cut, a lot them lost there jobs given the situation and we had no control over the situation. It has taken a long time for some of them to able to get back in employment but that is coming around depending on how the government addresses these matters and start opening up the economy, they will come back and yes while you can't back what you have loss, imagine having to lose this amount of money for 3 years because you are telling me on a yearly basis we will lose, so what will happen at the end of the next year when you tell me things didn't work out and we will have to go another year? So, there is a possibility that I can lose this salary for 3 years in addition to my increment. So why I understand my fellow Belizeans who are with no job right now and what that has done to their families, we want for them to also understand what we would be suffering for 3 years. A lot of the negative comments that we see, those comments are coming from what we call die hard supporters and you expect that these people will support their party but for the most part we have a lot of people even though they are in support of the current administration, we have a lot of people who are saying to us as teachers, we support you because we know you have always been out there fighting for country, so we support you."
