NTUCB Not Demanding Lizarraga’s Resignation

But as the opposition demands tougher oversight, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize is taking a more measured stance, declining to join calls for BTL Chairman Markhelm Lizarraga’s resignation and instead insisting he simply recuse himself from the negotiations.

 

On the Phone: Ella Waight, President, National Trade Union Congress of Belize 

“You may hear different versions of that. There are different persons in the union that feel that way. The NTUCB on a whole has not asked for his resignation. If you listen to what we are saying, we do not have confidence in him leading this initiative of the acquisition. When we have never said, you should go back and check your records. We have never said that the NTUCB has said that he should resign. There are different persons, different unions under the NTUCB that would have said that. When we did our general council meeting on this matter, that was not the situation. We understand that there may be costs involved if we ask for someone to resign, and that again falls on the taxpayers of this country. I mean the gentleman is not making a little bit of money as we all know. So we have to be concerned about that. We do not want any more additional costs on the taxpayer of his country but we’re saying when it comes to this matter, the acquisition, we feel he should remove himself from the situation from this issue. And hopefully they would heed to our call. But no, the NTUCB has not asked for his resignation.”

 

So tonight, the NTUCB says it isn’t backing calls for Markhelm Lizarraga to step down, but they still want him to step aside from the negotiations altogether.