NTUCB Calls for Salary Increase for Teachers and Public Officers

The National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) is supporting the call for teachers and public officers to get a pay increase. Just this week, the unions came together and sent out a joint letter to Prime Minister John Briceno. The correspondence opened with the statement, quote, “It is deeply troubling to note that, during this period of austerity and supposed fiscal prudence, the payroll of the Government of Belize has expanded significantly, notably through increases at the executive level.”  End of quote.  Further down in the letter, the unions, on the backdrop of inflation and the cost of living, made a formal request for an eight-point-five percent salary increase for public officers.  According to the letter, the unions are giving the government until May 1 to respond on the way forward. President of the NTUCB, Ella Waight, said that the unions will be discussing a way forward at a general council meeting tomorrow.

Ella Waight, President, NTUCB: “Yes, the conversation has come up at our general council level. We’ll be having a general council meeting this Saturday where the PSU and APSSM and the BNTU will be having more detailed discussions on the way forward. Remember, all unions have their own way of dealing with things that affect their workers. NTUCB is the umbrella organization. We are all unions coming together. So we are guided by those specific unions where these issues are being affected, where they want to deal with these issues on a certain level, whatever direction they want to go, then the group comes together and we support that those specific unions or that specific union. So we are just an umbrella union. We are guided by them. Of course, it is a very concerning issue for any worker because workers, all workers want to see an increase in their salary or a salary adjustment because these days we don’t have increase in salary because the cost of living is so high. So we call them salary adjustment, to adjust your salary to the cost of living. So this issue will be discussed on Saturday and I’m sure those specific unions will be giving you an interview after that to say that is basically the BNTU and the PSU issues that they are facing and again, NTUCB support whatever direction they want to go, we would support. And of course, like I mentioned before, of course that would be any workers issue. My wage has been frozen. My increment has been frozen and yet somebody else that works in the same sector that I work is getting an increase. Justify it, justify the increase, justify what is happening. Yes, again, those issues will be discussed on Saturday and those unions will be explaining what their way forward will be.”

Last week, an internal memo dated March 28 leaked, showing that Cabinet Secretary Stuart Leslie’s salary was increased to 96 thousand dollars a year. Additionally, the memo instructed that salaries for CEOs increase from 76 thousand dollars annually to 88 thousand.