Last Friday, we showed you Prime Minister John Briceno's first budget presentation, in which he and his government are trying to find optimism amidst the biggest financial crisis in Belize's post-independence history.
But, as we've been telling you for weeks now, the joint unions have been trying to get the government to rethink its proposal to cut public wages by 60 million dollars, and freeze increments to save an additional 20 million dollars. The unions began making moves to industrial action, and yesterday, the Public Service Union formally declared that there is a trade dispute over the 80-million-dollar salary adjustment.
So, what should you expect when you show up to the different government departments as a customer expecting government services? That's what we asked PSU Vice-President Dean Flowers today in a teleconference interview. Here's what he had to say about how public officers will strictly observe their working hours as a form of protest:
Dean Flowers - 1st VP, Public Service Union
"Yesterday, the President, acting on the instruction of general membership, served the government notice, declaring a trade dispute. And of course, that is in relation to the Prime Minister's presentation of the budget, which reflects a 10% salary cut for all public officers, as well as increment freezes. And those cuts and freezes are for 3 years when you look at the forecasted numbers. So, we believe that we're now at an impasse, and we believe that based on the sentiments of public officers, they're not intending to take this one sitting down. And so, having now served the Government with a trade dispute and with a notice of industrial action, of course, which could lead to strike action within 21 days, we expect that the Ministry of Finance, via the Prime Minister's Office, or the Ministry of Labour - whichever takes the lead on this matter - will be in touch with the union."
"Effective today, Tuesday, we're calling on all public officers to implement a work to rule. So, we've launched a work-to-rule campaign, effectively today, and that continues straight up until 21 days. In addition to the work to rule, we will implement additional types of industrial action to ramp up our efforts, to ensure that the government takes seriously the Joint Union Team's displeasure with the unilateral decision by the government to cut salaries, freeze increments for 3 years, without looking at this thing from a more nationalistic and macro level that encompasses everybody, and not only the workers of the public service."
And that's why the PSU and its membership are asking Belizeans to be patient with them as they make this stand against the wage cut. Here's that part of our interview from this morning:
Dean Flowers - 1st VP, Public Service Union
"What we want to say to the public is that effective today, public officers will be working to rule. That means that they will be taking their breaks as is legislated. They will be taken their lunch, as they have a right to, for an hour. They have a choice to decide whether or not they will be participating in overtime requests."
"And so, we ask for some patience from the general public. We know that there is always this complaint that the service within public service is not as efficient as it should be. And we know that some of the actions that the public will be seeing over the next 21 days will lead to greater inconveniences. But, at the end of the day, we believe that our cause is just. We believe that our cause will lead to better public service and a better Belize. And so, we stand in solidarity, and we stand by the decision that has been made by public officers."
We'll have a little more from the union later on in the news.
