And while it wasn't a proud day for the PUP in court - the Briceno Administration is also under fire tonight - this time from the Belize National Teachers Union.
It's in response to that email we showed you last night, form the Financial Secretary Joe Waight to the Cabinet Secretary Stuart Leslie.
It confirms that all Government CEO's will have their phone alliance increased from $250.00 to $600.00 per month upon renewal of their contracts. That's a 140% increase and the Cabinet Secretary told us today via text that it's to harmonize the phone allowance since he says some - or at least one CEO - is getting $600 and others only $250. He also said that this is a carry over from the UDP where - as far as we know - only one CEO was getting that $600 allowance.
Well, carry over or not, the BNTU doesn't want to hear it. The union issued an angry release this afternoon, saying, quote, "Government Officials Receive Hefty Hike in Telephone Allowance While Teachers and Their Familles Starve"
They note, quote, "that many teachers have not been paid any allowances since the beginning of the new school year, while others have gone without ANY salary at all for that same time period….It would seem to us that total Incompetence is the order of the day, as school managements and the Ministry of Education keep playing the blame game while our teachers and their families are starving as the woeful cost of living continues to rise…..We DEMAND IMMEDIATE ACTION that includes rescinding that gross and unjustified additional expense on the nation's ….Consider this FAIR WARNING, it has been long coming but the Green Machine is about to ROAR!!!" End quote.
Big talks, but the BLU Machine has stared down the BNTU before and won - so we'll see where this one goes….
