And, on that issue of the KHMH, today the Hospital CEO appeared on Sunup to explain where the hospital's negotiating team came up with the proposal for a 4% ex gratia payment to the union. Here's how she put it:...
Chandra Nisbet Cansino, CEO, KHMH
"4% and that is mirrored off the provident fund so what we were looking at is to pretend that if the provident fund was established in 2001 as opposed to 2017 and pay the workers the employers part of that contribution for that period right and I don't know why they feel that that 4% and this 4% are different, but it's the same thing that we discussed the offer is no different it's no less so that is what that was the last offer not an offer does not mean that you agree to accept."
"So at no time did we say that this is what they accepted that is what they were getting the offer and then you know there was all the the meeting and then they call in the media and then we had a press conference and then the response to that letter came in a press release."
"In that press, in that meeting you know we heard people saying that they were going to sickout whatever the case may be and there was a coordinated sickout a couple days later and that is when and you know they maintain that they want a pension and that is when we as an authority because our responsibility is to the people and we put our patients at the center of everything and when we have a threat of patient safety being compromised we must act and I am not saying what they did was, I'm not debating the legalities at this time it's just that we had to put the patient first and it didn't seem that the talks were happening within within the team right. They came out with a press release answering to the letter and then apparently subsequent to that a letter came but then we had already issued the letter to the Ministry of Labor."
"Writing to the Ministry of Labor is simply using the legislation that is available to all Belizeans under the constitution to solve a problem or to address a trade dispute which is what we did because that kind of seize the the action of the initial action for a while and it will bring us back to the table."
"Nothing has changed in our offer, everybody is still willing to compensate in my view I think that it will give some structure now to the discussions, it will help us to set timelines and meet goals and meet objectives and I think that we will hopefully come to a conclusion sooner rather than later."
The union has rejected that 4% proposal.
