In 2017, it made big news when a group of 600 retired public officers sued the leadership of the Public Sector Workers Trust, which continues to manage and control around 8 million dollars in back pay.
Those funds date back to the Manuel Esquivel Administration. Back in 1995 to 1997, the former government imposed an increment and wage freeze for all teachers and public officers who were serving at that time. To make it up to them, Former PM Esquivel gave them 450,000 shares in BTL. The dividends from these shares were supposed to compensate the teachers and the public officers who were affected by the wage freeze.
Over 20 years have passed, and those shares have matured with dividends to the tune of around 8 million dollars, which remain in the control of the unions and their Public Sector Workers Trust.
In the first lawsuit brought by the retired public officers, the court ordered that a new trust deed be drafted in consultation with the claimants and the Government of Belize. The government must be the Settlor of this new trust deed, reflecting that only the public officers from that 95-97 wage freeze are the true beneficiaries. But, persons with background knowledge of this ongoing dispute pointed out to our newsroom that the litigants did not get their main objective. They couldn't convince the court to order payouts on those funds, and the court ordered that they should be used for projects aimed at the beneficiaries.
So, while that's the history, new opponents against the Trust have emerged. An organization that calls itself the Association of Beneficiaries and Retired Public Officers has started their agitation.
In a press release, the Association says, quote, "ABRPO has written the Prime Minister and the Attorney General requesting the government's intervention…a growing number of beneficiaries are passing away without the benefit of their entitlement…It has drawn attention to the abject incompetence and failure of the PSWT Board of Trustees to ensure that beneficiaries' needs are satisfactorily attended to." End quote.
Yesterday, we spoke via zoom with Hubert Enriquez, the President of this new Association:
This evening, we spoke with Dr. Phillip Castillo, one of the Trustees of the Public Sector Workers Trust, and he feels the press release from the Association of Beneficiaries and Retired Public Officers is riddled with inaccuracies. He pointed out that the Trust was sued - not once - but twice and that the second lawsuit is still awaiting a full hearing before the Court of Appeal. He asserted that the Association is attempting to challenge the outcomes of one of the court cases and that if they wanted to do that, they needed to file an appeal against the judgment.
Dr. Castillo also insisted that he and the Public Sector Workers Trust have engaged in extended talks with some of the disgruntled retired public officers who want to collect money that they believe they are owed. He also points out that the Trust has been engaging in a health project to look after the medical needs of those retired beneficiaries.
