Labour Dept Moves to Clarify CCJ Severance Ruling

Tonight, the Labour Department is stepping in to calm confusion after a landmark Caribbean Court of Justice ruling stirred new questions about who qualifies for severance pay in Belize. While the CCJ’s decision in the Marin v. BTL case applies only to the parties involved, the judgment has triggered a wave of public debate, and even some misconceptions about what employees across the country may now be entitled to. The Ministry of Immigration, Governance and Labour is urging Belizeans not to jump to conclusions, reminding both workers and employers that severance rules haven’t changed, and that every case still depends on its own facts, agreements, and legal history. They’re also encouraging anyone unsure about their rights to reach out for proper guidance before assuming the CCJ ruling automatically affects their situation.

 

BCWJ Taking Protest to Southside Meat Shop

 

The battle over severance at Belize Telemedia has now turned personal, at least for the workers who say they’ve waited long enough. The Belize Communication Workers for Justice is ramping up its pressure campaign, and this Friday they plan to take their fight straight to the doorstep of the man they believe is standing in their way. Members say board chairman Markhelm Lizarraga has ignored a court ruling and denied them the payments they’re owed, and if he won’t feel their loss, they intend to make sure he feels their presence. Their demonstration is headed for Southside Meat Shop, Lizarraga’s own business, in what the group calls a necessary escalation. Organizer Emily Turner explains why they’re taking the protest directly to him.

 

Emily Turner, Organizer, Belize Communication Workers for Justice.

“We have received our mandate late last night from our members and that mandate is for us to take back to the street and this time we will be going to Southside meats on Albert Street West.”

 

Shane Williams

“Why Southside Meats?”

 

Emily Turner

“Well, we believe, we feel and it’s a large consensus from the group that the Chairman is behaving personal with us about paying our severance, our interest. What is due to us and we must make it personal right back at him for this behaviour that he is exercising.”

 

Shane Williams

“Last time we spoke it seems that we had reached a solution, a settlement. How did we get back here?”

 

Emily Turner

“Okay so, in good faith we received a letter from BTL saying the board had approved severance so we attended a first meeting where they presented that the board was sticking to a position that these people were not entitled to the severance. We said, you know what, we will take that, accept it and we will still ask them to consider the interest rate because what was being presented to us was a package with only the severance. We then received a subsequent letter that brought us to the table on Monday at two p.m. and in that meeting, following suit with their letter, they again began that meeting by stating that they are gonna remain noncompliant with the CCJ’s ruling and not accept that all of us, the people beyond six years are supposed to get their severance payment. And so we gave them an offer in good faith, which they could not meet. And we said, well this is where the negotiations will have to end and this is where it had broken down.”

 

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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