Trust Issues Cloud BTL-Speednet Acquisition

The proposed BTL-Speednet acquisition was also facing pushback from another corner, former BTL workers who say Belizeans deserve more than assurances that the deal is good for the country. The Belize Communication Workers for Justice is calling for full transparency on how Speednet was valued, what the acquisition would mean for employees, and why the public should trust a decision that has already been approved by BTL’s board. Organizer Emily Turner says BTL’s history on accountability makes it difficult for people to simply accept the board’s word without seeing the evidence behind the deal.

 

Emily Turner, Organizer, Belize Communication Workers for Justice

“Belizeans should be shown the financial basis for the valuation, the technology assessment, the full integration cost, effect on competition and prices, and plan for workers. We are not asking the public to take BCWJ’s word for it. We are asking BTL to show Belize the evidence. And that’s really where we want to, that’s really at the heart of our press release, where we believe that BTL has not provided us enough evidence for us to be able to make a strong decision on this acquisition. And from when we came out in January, nothing really has substantially changed. It is the same information they have shared and they haven’t shared with the Belizean public, the social partners, any further information. And that’s the reason why we have decided to also come out and show our solidarity with the social partners on this matter. It is an issue at the heart of what we represent. We believe that at the heart of this issue is accountability. And we have had our challenges with BTL when it comes to accountability and BTL is asking us to take their word for it. And that is something that we have had a struggle with doing. Our experiences with the BCWJ members have been real and it is hard for us to say that we can take BTL’s word on what they will do and what they say is happening or what they have seen without us getting that information and making an assessment on it. And as a Belizean that is part of the ownership of this company, we all believe that we deserve the answers, we deserve the evidence on this acquisition.”

 

Former BTL Workers Warn of Job Cuts

 

For former BTL workers, the proposed Speednet acquisition was not only about dollars and corporate strategy. It was about jobs, livelihoods, and who may be pushed out if the two telecom companies become one. The Belize Communication Workers for Justice fears that talk of “efficiency” could become another round of redundancies, especially for long-serving BTL employees. Organizer Emily Turner says she has already seen what she describes as Smart employees moving into senior roles at BTL, while existing workers face restructuring and job cuts. Now, with another major shakeup possibly ahead, Turner says the workers who helped build BTL could once again be the ones asked to pay the price.

 

Emily Turner, Organizer, Belize Communication Workers for Justice

“I just can use my experience, they are looking and facing a lot of redundancies. My information from in there is that they are already bringing in smart employees and they are giving them higher positions than the current BTL employees. So they have general managers, they have specialists, and from our experience, those are the better paid jobs, and that’s where the smart employees are being added, and we have done redundancy or re-orgs, that’s what we call it, when we look at efficiencies and people go home and it’s very sad because people that felt like they had been doing a very good job and have been performing well, they just decide, you know what, I just don’t need your service anymore and that’s very hard for somebody to face, especially people that then have dedicated themselves to building this company. I think for us as former employees, the amount of investment we have put in that organization, when you are faced with I don’t want you no more, it’s hard, it’s very hard, especially if you are the person that is the main provider in your family, it’s a challenge. I am glad to hear that the workers have joined in because I think that they will be the most affected with redundancies because when a company is talking about efficiencies, they are not talking about cut salaries from the C-levels and the GMs or bring down the money that the directors get paid. They are not talking about that, they are talking about the people all the way at the bottom, those are the people where they will find the efficiencies with.”

Shane Williams

“Do you all still have any plug pullers in the company.”

Emily Turner

“[Laughs] No. Even if we had, I would not say that.” 

 

The BTL workers, who were initially in favor of the proposed acquisition, recently voted overwhelmingly to oppose the purchase, eighty-four percent said no in a recent internal poll.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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