The employees of the Belize Tax Service are warily resisting the proposed transition of this government department into a semi-autonomous revenue authority, or SARA - basically a statutory board. The Public Service Union got the news on July 16th during a meeting they had with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Service, and the BTS. But, tonight, the president of the PSU is saying that consultations were not done before this move was proposed, and the options afforded to the current employees are not satisfactory. By his assessment, they'll essentially be choosing between resigning or reapplying for a job with the new structure. Flowers had a meeting with the tax services employees form 1:30 to 4:40 this afternoon. It was held at the Hub in Belize city and 7News was there when it finished. Flowers explained why the proposed transition is problematic.
Dean Flowers, President, PSU:
"As the director would have suggested to the media, I understand last week, is that staff members will be afforded the opportunity to resign. I believe that's an option. To transfer into the wider public service or to transition into SARA."
"Now if you force me to resign because I do not wish to interview for the position I currently hold, I already hold a position in the Belize Tax Services Department slash SARA. You're saying to me that I can transition but I must interview for the position that I already hold. A position that was offered to me by the Public Services Commission. A position that I accepted and I have accrued certain benefits. My terms and conditions are set whether it's compensation in terms of salary, allowances, whether it's my right or my privilege or my entitlement. To ultimately earn a gratuity and a pension."
"You're saying to me that even though these things are already guaranteed to me, I would have to forego them. You're not giving me option because if I want to transition, I have to interview for a position I already hold. And if I don't, if I fail to meet your requirements for the position I already hold."
"What next? Where am I going to transition to? What if you say to me? Well, you're currently a manager. But the interviewing team which will comprise of a politically appointed advisory committee says well you know what, I don't like Marisol. I think she disrespected me at some point during her career so I don't want her to be a manager. But we could give her one clerk position. And people might say how the hell you're going from a clerk, from a manager to a clerk. Well go and ask the people at the company's registry what happened to them. They're pushing papers, some of them who are already managers who are next in line to be director."
"So it's nonsense that Michelle Langsworth is preaching that you could transition into the survey. It's utter. I don't want to use some bad word."
And he went on to lament the resignation option - which he said does not even include an adequate severance package.
Dean Flowers, President, PSU:
"Resign. What if I'm not in a financial position to resign? If I resign, they're saying, if you have less than 10 years, and this is coming from the Ministry of Finance, you know, and more specifically the Undersecretary, if you have less than 10 years, you have no vesting period, so we're not entitled to pay you any severance or any gratuity or any anything. You get to go home. So how do you force people to resign and say they're getting an option and send them home with nothing? It is my understanding that now they've changed that narrative after meeting with us and saying that they're consulting with the Labor Department. There's no need to consult with the Labor Department. The Labor Act already provides that after five years, people are entitled to a severance, but these people are not your average workers. They're permanently established public officers who are entitled to a gratuity and a pension if they meet certain years of service. So an improved separation package should have been designed or looked at for those who choose to resign. Then you're saying you could transfer into the wider public service. Transfer where? Transfer where? You'll treat them like what you did to those officers at the company's registry. Transfer a deputy director to a clerk because the only place you could have been put on that one ministry or could have been fined for squeezing into. What kind of option is that? What kind of justice is that? What kind of dignity is that? What kind of messaging is that? And to try to defend those nonsense. So none of the three options, my result, are palatable for public officers. And what bothers me is that the constitution of Belize which establishes the Public Service Commission under Section 105 mandates that there must be consultation with the representative of workers in these type of instances. And there has been none."
He also explained other controversial issues with the proposal, and added that while the government was originally set for making the change in December, they could not properly answer the union's questions.
Dean Flowers, President, PSU:
"These people can't even share with us the draft legislation that will determine how this thing will work. Who will appoint the advisory committee, the Prime Minister? Who will sit there, the same thing that he's now doing with the National Bank, putting friends and crew in his own family, to a largest revenue generating authority? Then this Politically Tainted Advisory Committee, which has no workers representation, will then formulate an interviewing committee to determine who gets which posts, because they're saying all 400 posts must be applied for an interview."
"This is what happened, and guess what? It's not only these 253 people that will suffer, it is the Belizean people, because there is no guarantee that the current culture that they say, using their words, the corrupt culture that currently exists, the non-productive culture, because they say some of their staff members are not even generating the kind of revenue that reflects their pay. But they're alleging that by transforming from a government department to a SARA, we'll fix that. How the hell do you fix it when you're interviewing the same people to occupy the positions under the SARA? How will it change it when the same management team that created the mess that currently exists will still be right there?"
"So it's a whole culture change, and guess what? The deficiencies, the issues that plague the BTSD, plague customs, plague immigration, plagues this land, this is not unique to BTSD. What the government needs to do is address the structural problem, the governance issues, the good governance issue. How do we address corruption in public service, if that is it? And to say to staff, just to try to pitch to them that they'll get higher salaries without saying to the Belizean people how you will improve your revenue collection, how you will address the matter of tax evasion and tax avoidance, how you will address the matter of the informal sector which is costing us millions in what could be revenue for this country. That is what we want to hear from Michelle Langsworth. She's highly paid. She's one of the highly experienced head of department and her entire management team, and I say to them, shame on them, they were unable to answer 80% of the question that I posed to them."
