And while the PSU finally got a response from the government, their letter was dated June 16th and had asked for a consultation meeting for June 23rd. That, of course, never happened, even though they were assured by Claude Haylock, the registrar of international business companies, that they would be consulted if Cabinet took any decision that affected the tenure of the staff as part of the consolidation of the company law framework.
The PSU's concerns, as outlined in the letter, is that, quote, "there is absolutely nothing therein that provides for the transfer and status of staff currently under the employ of the Government in the Belize Companies and Corporate Affairs Registry. The PSU wishes to inform you that we reject the Belize Companies Act, 2022 in its current form until such time that adequate consultation takes place and provisions be included in the Act to provide for the protection of employment, tenure and superannuation benefits of staff and that a clear process for the transition of staff be agreed upon between the PSU and Financial Services Commission." End quote.
Today, via Zoom, President Dean Flowers explained the issue those public officers affected will have to face:
Dean Flowers, President, PSU
"Our members and public officers currently employed or previously employed since the bill passed today under the companies registry now have to make a very tough decision when that declaration of redundancy is made. Do I transition out? and if they transition out and out of that department to remain the government services. I mean it takes away from the expertise, it takes away from their passion, it takes away from what they've done all their lives and that's unfortunate, because we lose good people doing those specific functions within that newly statutorized body. So, they can do that in accordance with what Mr. Courtenay or they can simply just decide that they have come to the end of the working relationship with government which is effectively collecting whatever benefits due to them and then they go job hunting which is this tough economic times would be a difficult step for any individual."
"On the bright side he said that they would be offer first preference in the case employment, but even if those members were to take that position, it begs the question, at what salary scale? Would it be at the current scale and is there opportunity for them to get promoted or receive increments annually based on the performance of the newly establish companies' registry. I don't know and these are some of the things that as workers' representative we try to have in place before these statutorized but once again we see the Briceno administration putting money over people. It's always about business and absolutely no focus is placed on the human resource that must provide those services and it's unfortunate, but it is the order of the day and it is the way they do business and we can only hope and pray that those officers would ultimately make a decision that will not adversely affect their livelihoods and that of their families."
