And like the PSU president said earlier, the PM has been notably absent from these meetings. He returned from personal leave yesterday and spent today in Orange Walk, but still had a lot to say to the Government Press Office about the unions.
He said that while the negotiations have been cordial, the impasse needs to be resolved to get the economic recovery rolling. He explained that even with the salary cuts, it is still not enough and the unions need to be more understanding of the country's financial predicament. He also added that while there is concern for the state of the economy, the protests and strikes have not been having a major impact.
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister "What I find quite pleasing is that in the meetings, the meetings are very cordial, they are very respectful, everyone put their different perspectives to what it is that they wish. Our disappointment is that when we finish the meetings, we feel that we have an agreement but whenever they go to the membership or at least the group that participated in the meetings are obviously that probably are the ones that are more not wanting to settle for what they have been asking. So that part is disappointing but as I said, we do respect the unions, we do support their right to work but at the same time as a government we have the responsibility to the rest of the nation to ensure that the country continues to work, that the schools are working, that there can be teachers teaching our children, hospitals are working, that there are doctors and nurses available, these are services that are critical to the development of any country, so we have not only a legal but a morale responsibility to ensure that we continue to offer these services to the Belizean people."
Reporter "Are you concerned, what are your thoughts on the days ahead as the strike continues and the impact to the economy?"
Hon. John Briceno "Well fortunately it seems that it's not having a major impact, I believe that generally Belizeans understand what we're doing, Belizeans understand that we're not acting out of malice, Belizeans understand that there is a financial crisis, Belizeans understand that many of them, thousands of them lost their jobs. Fortunately, the public service, including the teachers, they kept their jobs, they've been getting their salaries, but it has gotten to a point where we just don't have the money. We wish we could be paying them and giving them even more and helping all of those that don't have a job, but the truth is that we don't have the money. For the past 2 years, Mr. Barrow and the UDP borrowed over 700 million dollars to pay salaries, to pay the light bill, electricity, and rent, we can't continue doing that. In this new financial year with the tightening up of our belts and just spending monies where we really need to spend in education, economy, and health but with all of that, the 10% cut that we've already done because the budget has already been passed, we're still short of almost 100 million dollars to be able to pay salaries. So, we're still not collecting enough to be able to pay salaries and that is what we're trying to tell the unions, we don't have it and we can't continue to print money, if we continue to print money, we would have hyperinflation and god forbid even a devaluation and we will not allow that to happen."
He added that he does hope for a reasonable and quick solution and that by the third year of salary cuts and increment freezes, the economy would be in a better condition to restore the salaries and to start enacting different aspects of Plan Belize.
