There was hope that a truce could be arrived at today as Prime Minister Said Musa and his Minister of Education Francis Fonseca invited the leadership of the teacher's union into talks.
As our government sources indicate, the Prime Minister wished to offer a compromise for the teachers to relent from their position which today saw the fourth full-day of a nationwide shutdown of schools. But while Musa only wanted to meet with teachers, this morning they showed up with other representatives from the National Trade Union Congress. Musa balked at that and after a brief standoff the meeting re-convened at 11 am with representatives from a cross-section of the 8 unions under the NTUCB. Almost 4 and a half hours later, the talks broke down when, as we understand it, the Prime Minister refused to give in on one of the unions' demands; that is that the tax increases be held off for 3 months until reforms are put in place. And even after government proposed to scatter the salary increase over 2 instead of 3 years as had been previously proposed, the unions walked out.
They headed over to a teacher's rally at the Belmopan Civic Center which had been going on all day with teachers from Belmopan and Orange Walk. As our team has just returned within the last half-hour from Belmopan, here are some excerpts from the rally with what the unions brought back and their members' reactions.
Anthony Fuentes, BNTU President
"We have decided that come Wednesday we will ask our teachers to go back into the classroom and during that period of time we will be re-grouping and if government does not fulfill its promises and commitment, we are willing to show government that we are serious again. And if we need to do it again, we are asking our teachers to support us."
[Teachers Erupt Shouting No!]
Anthony Fuentes,
"Teachers we are asking you to please cooperate and for us to..."
[Teachers start chanting solidarity song.]
Zenaida Moya,
"What I am hearing from you guys is that you guys are ready to go ahead and continue the strike?"
[Teachers Reply Yes.]
Zenaida Moya,
"Alright. Well if that is what you are prepared to do then the rest of unions are also to prepared to do that tomorrow."
Lois Barber, BNTU Secretary
"This is day 4. Day 1 and 2, Thursday and Friday, we had some support from the Water Service (Union). The other unions have given us lip service. We need more than lip service. We have done our part, and this is a personal feeling on my part, but at this point we are holding our children as hostage. You can disagree but I will stick to my belief. I am prepared to leave from here and step down as National Secretary because my point is that children are out of the classroom for too long. We cannot..." [Inaudible because of shouting of audience.]
Paul Perriot, President BCWU
"They always talk about the teachers and the teachers have the strongest force yes. But what I am saying to you guys now is that I called my membership and we are planning tomorrow to start the same action with you guys. I will tell the teachers right now that we have plans, and we have the business people with we, to have some supporting rallies maybe get different bands and different people to come out and support so that we could build funds for you guys if the government is not going to be paying you. I pledge my support from my union, the only thing is that we could not get the Monday and Tuesday along with you guys but we are starting tomorrow."
Glenise Williams, Teacher
"Did they promise anything today to government? What did they promise? We need to know if you promised that the teachers were going back to school tomorrow."
Anthony Fuentes,
"What I said members was that if we could not come up with an agreement for the taxes then we are left with no other alternative than to continue the strike action. We also heard from the other unions that yes they will also be acting to ensure that its not only BNTU but all the unions collectively doing the things necessary to show the government that we are serious about our plan of action."
Dylan Reneau, PSU President
"The PSU will ensure that we do our part. Our members have continued to call for a go-slow and come Thursday we are joining you in strike action. I applaud you as a union and we have to do our part. Today when went into that room there was the arrogance and the persistence of this government to say that they are consulting with us which to me did not seem very truthful. The play from the media has been that all the unions want is our salary increase. Well today when we did not get the concession on the taxes, which will affect every single Belizean in this country, I was proud of the unions for standing up and saying we will not accept that. We have got to be more just in the society when it comes to paying taxes. We have to got to make a stand. This country is not growing and developing for everybody, it is growing for a few and we have got to stop it. They were obviously using the strategy of making concessions when it comes to salary increases for us. Well we made a point today, we will not back down because they were planning to give us our salary increases. We know we have to get our salary increases; it is a collective agreement. The taxes and the reforms are essential to the development of this country and the PSU stands strong behind the BNTU to ensure that the reforms and the taxing be addressed in this country."
Mark Butler, BEWU President
"I have been lashed, locked up, and all kind of abuse by the police. My crowd is definitely with you. I have a very small membership of 110 people because as you know due to privatization countrywide under BEL we only have 260 total. My union is small but it is very effective because your power is our business. We were in solidarity with you all by sitting out for two days, Thursday and Friday of last week countrywide. So we have been out here in this demonstration. You may not have seen us but we were out here. I think all who live in Belmopan could have felt Belmopan get a little jerk Thursday night - I don't know who did that. Northern Road went Wednesday night and I don't know who did that. So just wait but BEWU is definitely in this struggle. We have done our part but the NTUCB called for a two-day shutdown by not attending work and thing and we did that. People might not see things happening but things are happening. We want to touch those people but we can't touch them for too long because it will turn and it will turn against us. So let's be careful how we move and whatever happens happens. But I already called my General Secretary for them to group up some people to be in solidarity with you. We are trying our best but look out because we are in solidarity."
Russell Young, Water Union President
"The proposals that the NTUCB submitted to the Prime Minister and his colleague was very good especially the one which asked to not apply the tax for 3 months. Put the reform in place and get the system working. Looking at the Prime Minister I could see that this man was speaking from a position of strength. So we at the NTUCB must also speak from a position from strength. My troops are still on dock just waiting for word. So I'm putting my pledge of allegiance against the NTUCB that we will do what we must do. We cannot give up this fight this time, too much is at stake."
George Frazer, NTUCB
"What we are hearing from those branches here saying is that we will continue to put the pressure. So I am proposing that we continue the shutdown and that the other unions come onboard from tomorrow or even tonight. For the other unions I don't want to hear no talk, I want you walk the walk."
All eyes now turn to the union leaders from the Public Service, Water Services, electric company, and the phone company and their commitment to match the BNTU.
