“It Can Be Done”: NTUCB Rejects Briceño’s Position on BTL Board 

The National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) has addressed the Cabinet’s response to its 11 demands, with two proposals emerging as major sticking points in the negotiations.

Cabinet delivered its position last week, offering a mix of concessions, commitments and outright rejections. NTUCB President Ella Waight addressed the response during the union’s weekly programme on Open Learning TV Tuesday night. Weight singled out two proposals Cabinet dismissed, a union liaison officer inside the Office of the Prime Minister, and a tripartite structure on the BTL board. 

Waight rejected Cabinet’s argument that the unions already have a channel through the Joint Union Negotiating Team, or JUNT. “JUNT is not the NTUCB,” Waight said. “The JUNT unions are a part of the NTUCB. So I think that was a little bit disingenuous to say, ‘You already have one.’”

The NTUCB has also declared it wants BTL’s board structure to include representatives for government, employers and workers. She pointed to the Social Security Board as an example, saying the tripartite model provides greater transparency and accountability because representatives must report back to the groups they represent.

Waight said the same structure at BTL would create a channel to address concerns like the recent SMART-BTL acquisition proposal directly. 

“That is what the prime minister has said cannot be done,” she said. “It can be done.” 

The NTUCB is expected to send its formal response to Cabinet today, and put both issues back on the negotiating table.