Government and the National Trade Union Congress of Belize were back around the negotiating table this afternoon. But after nearly 4 hours in the Central Bank conference room, both sides emerged late this evening with no solution and only a promise of hope. The Trade Union Congress represented by its 8 member unions presented GOB with a "refined" list of their proposals for political and tax reform including the immediate removal of the Ombudsman and Contractor General. The government team headed by Ministers Godfrey Smith, Francis Fonseca, and Joe Coye promised to take that proposal back to Cabinet. Zenaida Moya from the Association of Public Service Senior Managers said the ball is once again in government's court.
Zenaida Moya, NTUCB
"We presented our proposals. It is now up to the government to respond to these proposals. They have stated preliminary that they might be able to and they will try to give us a response maybe within a day. But as we stand right now, strike actions continue and that's all I can say right now. It's up to the government. We have laid our proposals, we have laid our recommendations, we have stated what we believe should happen, and we have assisted them, we believe, in certain areas that they can seriously look at in terms of generating the necessary revenue to close the deficit. The ball is in their corner.
Keith Swift,
And these are the same proposals that were offered in previous meetings?
Zenaida Moya,
"We refined them and we focused in a bit on them."
