If you live in Belize City, and your lunch hour commute took you to Freetown Road today, then you may have seen the small protest from members of the PSU and the BNTU. While it lasted less than an hour and had about 60 persons at its peak, the protest's purpose was to send a message that the unions have not given up.
Next week promises continued industrial action from both unions - with the PSU joining the BNTU on a strike.
So today was kind of a soft prelude - but was it too soft? Courtney Menzies has the story from today's demonstration.
A small but steadfast group of protesters marched along Freetown Road during today's lunch hour - their yellow and green shirts signifying that this was another form of industrial action from the PSU and BNTU.
And while the group was small to maintain COVID protocols it preempts PSU's strike, which is set to start on Monday.
But until then, PSU's First Vice President, Dean Flowers, says it necessary to keep up public momentum across the country to remind the public and the government what they are fighting for.
Dean Flowers, First Vice President, PSU
"Those were coordinated solidarity marches that took place across the country. It is in line with our plan of action leading up to our strike which as you all know, the 21 days notice with the government expires on Monday. And so today was just one of those marches coordinated as well with the BNTU where that was possible and we're happy with the support that we are receiving albeit limited because of the pandemic situation and as well as the time constraints where perhaps the movement of membership to the respective location is concerned but it needs to be sustained and so we're trying to ensure that all times we sustain our presence within the community and so we continue to inform, engage and to be visible with the people and with the council that we're serious about this good governance movement, we're serious about bringing change to Belize."
Flowers emphasized that they are not just concerned about the pay cuts - and while that may have initiated the trade dispute, he insisted that it all goes back to the importance of good governance.
And after today's protest, the president of the BNTU's Belize Branch reiterated that message.
Tanya Gillett, President, BNTU Belize Branch
"We just united with PSU and we did a small demonstration down Freetown. That was the goal today as they embark on their strike."
Reporter:
"The realities are that fuel is up, cost of living is up, things are expensive, that coupled with the cut, you couldn't even make it out here in your vehicle."
Tanya Gillett, President, BNTU Belize Branch
"Exactly because my vehicle is not working presently so with the salary cut, I mean, it's going to be a problem sometime in the future."
"To our members I'm just appealing to you all to come out and join us in full forces and let's stand our ground and send our message. We're not fighting - the 10 percent is out there but there's other things we're fighting for so let's stand our ground as BNTU and get the message out so that five, ten years we're not out here again because honestly we need to make a stand now and get it over with."
While the BNTU is already on strike, the PSU has not indicated what their own will look like as yet.
Flowers reminded the public that PSU received the mandate to go on strike from the majority of its members - even those who aren't a part of the union. And that's why they expect that the numbers and the activities will be ramping up in the upcoming week.
