On July 24th government approved the Essential Services Amendment Bill which makes it illegal for essential service employees to stage sick-outs and go-slows. The trade unions were very displeased and gravely concerned; they viewed it as a direct attack on workers’ rights. For its part, government explained it as a means of simply eliminating loopholes in the existing laws which currently restrict industrial action by essential services.
The new law would expand those restrictions to ensure that there is no recurrence of low grade industrial action like the recent sick-outs at the KHMH which forced the cancellation of specialist clinics. The union saw it as draconian and threatened to open hostilities on the barrow administration, but after talks yesterday, there is some easing up on that rhetoric.
According to a release from the National Trade Union Congress of Belize the Prime Minister has agreed to postpone the passage of the amendment to the Essential Services Act until a joint team can make a thorough review of the legislation. According to the union release this will ensure that there is a, “comprehensive amendment which will...guarantees that the law is applied swiftly (and) equitably.... In resolving disputes.”
And while that’s what the union says, speaking with the Prime Minister this evening, he was very clear that there will be no changes whatsoever to the amendment of the law restricting industrial action by essential services. His words were that, “the amendment will not be let go of” and he told us that the only thing he jointly committed to with the unions was tightening up other amendment dealing with the settlement of disputes by tribunals.
And that wasn’t the only significant difference between the versions of the meeting presented by the pm on one side and the unions on the other. The union says the Prime Minister committed to investigating the possibility of lifting the Glenn Godfrey in junction on the Merlene Bailey Martinez DFC Commission Report. That would allow the long stifled report to be published and circulated in the news and otherwise. Today the PM told us that he explained that the time for an appeal had passed before he was elected so it is a virtual impossibility to get the injunction lifted but agreed with the unions that if they can find an attorney to pursue it, he will support them.
And by the wording of the NTUCB release, the PM must have been in a giving mood, because it says he also committed to asking Cabinet to reconsider its position on not allowing the unions to sit on the oversight committees which disburse the Venezuelan housing money. Indeed, the PM confirmed that he took it back to Cabinet today and the position remains the same; the unions are not getting back on the oversight committee. Straight like that.
The union’s release also indicated that the Prime Minister committed to assisting in the “speedy and amicable settlement” of the labour disputes between BEL and the energy workers union. He told us that the only undertaking he gave is to call BEL President Lyn Young and urge him to settle the dispute.
According to the release, the Prime Minister and the unions will hold meetings like this every six months. That’s one thing they do agree on but the PM expressed extreme disappointment in what he called distortions and mischaracterizations of the meeting by the NTUCB. He stressed also that he denied their request to have representation on the board of the Central Bank and told them he will consult with the board of the DFC to see if they can have a seat on that body.
