And the president also feels as if the government is giving back the 10% only to take more in the longer run. Yesterday you heard PM Briceno suggest a pension reform for the public service. Currently, they enjoy non-contributory pension but the government wants to change that. And President Dean Flowers said they're not going down without a fight.
Dean Flowers - President, Public Service Union
"Is the wage bill big? The manner in which we are behaving as a government doesn't suggest that. That results in of course accrued liability via pensions in the future. I think the prime minister said its at 100 million a year, I don't know. But the greatest benefit that public officers get after sacrificing for the Belizean people is that they can walk away with a pension during their retirement years. Thats the singular benefit that we get. Cant be that you always come to the Belizean workers to sacrifice and sacrifice. I mean no man, that cannot be allowed to continue and so we look forward to see where they will go with that, but we are not in support of that as has been presented as a condition of returning the 10%. certainly not, hell no. There is the issue of social security increased contributions, there is talk about broadening the GST to remove some of the zero-rated items, there is talk about reducing the income tax threshold - all these things are targeted at the consuming public who are workers. And when you look at the other side of the equation where the private sector sits, you see concessionary loans, you see allocation in case, there is bad debts for them, you see fiscal and financial incentives, you see tax breaks, tax holidays and you see none enforcement. We are ensuring that they pay their taxes. So I maintain that whilst I am here as the president of the public service union, I vow to fight against contributory pension for public officers as long as those other measures are not address and implemented to ensure that we all share in growing and incurring whatever burden is inflicted in our economy."
