And while doublespeak reigns in Belmopan - civil society remains engaged and wary around the acquisition. For one, the NTUCB is planning to protest in Belmopan tomorrow outside of the Administration Building.
But will the BNTU be joining them? Their council of management showed up on Wednesday but, last night, Union president, Nadia Caliz, issued a message to their membership: the polls are open and she needs them to vote on whether the BNTU should heed the NTUCB's call. She stated they don't have the mandate yet, but she believes they should join the fight. Here's a snippet of that message.
Nadia Caliz, President, BNTU
"Based on what is before the trade union congress of Belize is the reason why they have called on affiliates to register its discontent. The BNTU council and management does not have that mandate, we cannot do that without your vote. Last week, we started the education process and every president receives the information sheets that looks at the pros and cons and then we had the online again given membership the opportunity to ask questions. The polls were open on Friday and they're still open. And the council of management strongly believes that we need to get a mandate from our membership before we can say to the NTUCB that the BNTU membership will engage in any form of industrial action that you call. Yes on Friday it was announced in the House that the entire process is on pause. The council strongly believes that we need that mandate, whether it's yes, whether it's no, we still need that mandate and if the mandate is yes, while the consultation process is going on, if it's flawed, we call on you once the NTUCB calls on its affiliates to engage."
We'll keep you updated on the outcome of the voting.
