And Flowers also explained how the joint unions were able to get the government to separate the issues of increment resumption and pension reform. He added that now pension reform will be done in two phases. We told you a little about the first phase earlier, and here's how Flowers put it.
Dean Flowers, President, PSU
"IN TERMS OF pension reform it is not that, well, we have stated from day one that one could not be tied to the other and the government obviously conceded to that as well because you cannot tie pension to increments because increments is governed by the public service regulations while pension is governed by the pensions act, two different things and the pensions act as well as the constitution is Belize is explicit in terms of who is entitled to a pension and the conditions under which a pension is to be paid."
"And so I am pretty quite sure that after they took these pieces of legislation in mind they were able to conclude that they would be making a grave error if they attempted to tie the unfreezing of increments to pension, you simply cannot do that because the very legislation via the constitution does not provide for that."
Jules Vasquez:
"I don't think the prime minister was thinking technically when he said well, you want the increments restored, we want pension reform, he was just thinking of it as two forces, you want something, I want something, let's talk about how I can give you what you want and you give me what I want. He thought of it in raw negotiating terms, obviously he was outmaneuvered by the unions who pursued it in a tactical way saying well, the laws are completely unrelated."
"However the government is intent and you know the IMF is as well on talking about pension reform. Will you engage with the government on a pension reform conversation?"
Dean Flowers, President, PSU
"Most definitely, Jules, I believe that as a matter of fact we have to a certain extent agreed in principle with the government that pension reform is a must and we've agree din principle that it has to be in two phases. The first phase which the government wishes to see implemented on July 1st, 2023 is for new public officers coming into the system after that date and so the government again between now and I believe sometime in May or June will be sending to us the proposal or the specifics of what that scheme would look like so any citizens of Belize after July 1st will be subjected to that scheme."
"The second phase is expected to address public officers who are currently employed within the public service and that will be a much m roe difficult negotiation between the joint unions and the government."
And according to the Cabinet brief, phase two will include a comprehensive review of the existing scheme with the objective of making it more sustainable. As such, a working group will be established that includes the government, the joint unions, the NTUCB, the grant aided managing authority of schools and the private sector.
