Christopher Coye: “GOB Can Only Pay What It Can Afford.”

The Government of Belize is holding firm on its phased salary adjustment proposal, despite rejection from the Public Service Union and ongoing tensions over proposed pension reforms.

The PSU continues its demand of an immediate 8.5% salary increase, but the government insists such a move is financially unfeasible within the current fiscal year. Instead, it has offered a staggered increase over three years, an offer the unions have rejected.

According to Minister of State Christopher Coye, any revised proposal would depend on Cabinet’s decision but stressed that GOB “can only do what we can afford.”

“What is clear is that we can afford what was proposed in a second proposal,” Coye added.

Union members have also raised alarm over the proposed introduction of a 5% pension contribution for new public officers starting in October. Coye pushed back, stating, “There is no proposition that all existing public officers and teachers immediately have to pay a five percent contribution. That’s totally inaccurate.”

He added that the proposed pension reform is a gradual shift from a non-contributory to a contributory system, a model he says is standard across the region and long overdue for Belize.

“There is no non-contributory pension plan for public officers in the entirety of the Caribbean and Latin America. It’s a total anomaly that it continues to exist in Belize,” Coye said.