The battle between Cabinet and Belize’s trade unions is intensifying. After government rejected most of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize’s eleven demands, NTUCB President Ella Waight accused the Prime Minister of brushing aside the unions’ concerns. A major sticking point is BTL, where the NTUCB called for Chairman Markhelm Lizarraga’s removal and a restructuring of the company’s board. The Prime Minister rejected both proposals, arguing there is no basis to remove Lizarraga and pointing to BTL’s profits under his leadership. But Waight says financial performance does not settle the wider concerns raised by the unions. Today, we asked her why the NTUCB remains dissatisfied and what comes next in its push for action.
Ella Waight
Ella Waight, President, NTUCB
“When we speak about the profit of BTL, I think that is his job and everybody who is on the board and management at BTL. That is their job to ensure that it profits. So that is not something he is doing extraordinarily to have the NTUCB say we will disregard anything else that was said, any kind of dismissive statement from the chairman, every kind of intent to push the acquisition process of Smart. So, no it does not justify, the profit of BTL does not justify him remaining. As we know, the staff of BTL still do not feel comfortable, do not have confidence in the chairman. I don’t know if that can be remedied. It would take the president of the Belize Communication Workers Union to say what happened weeks ago to now if that has changed. And if I may go directly to the Prime Minster’s letter to us, he says currently there is a union representative on the BTL board by the way of the Belize Social Security Board. He says, government sees no reason for the suggested restructure. When we speak of the tripartite structure, we do not only speak for the NTUCB to have a representative on BTL. The tripartite structure includes the business as well, the employer representative which is the BCCI. The government has representative as well. And when we speak of Sister Anisa’s representation on BTL Board, his letter says it, it comes by way of the BTL board. That can change anytime. The NTUCB did not elect Sister Anisa to represent NTCUB on the BTL board, we elected her to represent NTUCB on the Social Security Board.”
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