Healthcare Workers Join Teachers in Demanding Fair Treatment

As the Belize National Teachers’ Union continues to push for an eight-point-five percent salary adjustment, the government is now facing added pressure from another front. The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Authority Workers’ Union is demanding that retiring staff receive pensions, a benefit they say is long overdue. The union criticized the government for stalling negotiations and announced plans to take industrial action. While some argue that KHMH workers may not qualify for pensions since the hospital isn’t fully government-run, the workers insist this fight is about more than money. They say it’s about fairness and recognizing their years of service to the nation. Today, we spoke with NTUCB Senator Glenfield Dennison, who expressed support for the workers and their call for justice.

 

Glenfield Dennison, N.T.U.C.B. Senator

“That’s a  a difficult one. And I’ll tell you, I don’t, I don’t envy the position that the Prime Minister is in, but the people only clammer for what they think is just so, whether you don’t like it or not, whetherwe don’t like it or not, people have assessed. What they think is just, and the KHMHA Workers Union, they know and feel that getting the pension is something that they deserve. They’re comparing themselves to those in the government service. They’re the National Referral Hospital. Those people are working extremely hard doing work of several people in some serious conditions. You heard me say in the Senate that air conditionings are not working. They have cat scan machine, but no, contrast. And so, they’re trying to make, do. I don’t think those are the people that you want to pick a fight with.”