Today those Communication Workers joined the National Trade Union Congress of Belize at a press conference where union leaders outlined their position on the Sunshine situation. Perhaps for the Prime Minister's benefit, Communication Workers Union President Paul Perriot repeated that his union wants nothing to do with Sunshine.
Paul Perriot, BCWU President
"We view with utter distaste the decision of a majority of the members of the Board of the Social Security Board to provide a loan of BZ $10 million of workers' money to Sunshine Holdings, a so-call trust company that purports to be the "Trust" representing the workers of Belize Telecommunications Limited. We state categorically that Sunshine cannot claim to represent the workers of BTL. No one in Sunshine is affiliated to the BTL workers and none of the workers are affiliated with or has anything to do with this trust company.
What kind of "trust" company is the Sunshine Trust? The Union is fully aware that there are several kinds of trust and depending on the type of trust Sunshine is, the workers, as beneficiaries, may not see any benefit arising from this trust. In fact, Sunshine may never repay the SSB loan. Who are the trustees of Sunshine and how do we know the trustees can be trusted? Why can't the trustees be members of the workers' body?
We want to use our own vehicle, the BTL workers Trust Limited, we have our financial plans and need to know what we getting into before we agree to have any loan in our name."
It is believed that Ashcroft, or whoever is the invisible hand behind Sunshine must retain control of the voting rights for the union shares so that Ashcroft can retain control of the board of directors.
