PM Briceño “Very Disappointed” in Teachers

Prime Minister John Briceño has expressed deep frustration over the Belize National Teachers Union’s (BNTU) recent decision to reject the government’s proposed salary adjustment package. Speaking to News Five, the Prime Minister said he was “very disappointed” in the outcome and insisted that his administration has offered as much as the country can currently afford.

“I am very disappointed,” Briceño said. “I think we have pointed out that as a government we want to support the teachers. We want to give them more, but there is only so much we can give.”

The BNTU had recently voted overwhelmingly against a government proposal that included an initial 3% raise beginning in October 2025, along with the phased reinstatement of two frozen salary increments. Briceño stressed the financial realities the government faces, stating that the current national wage bill, which covers teachers, public officers, and security forces, already stands at around $700 million, accounting for nearly 50 cents of every dollar in the national budget.

“What we have worked out, I think over three or four years, it would work out to about another ninety to a hundred plus million dollars. When that is enacted, the wage bill would go up to eight hundred plus million dollars,” he said.

Briceño also argued that the union is underestimating the true value of the government’s offer. “It is important for the public to understand, when we met with the unions they were asking for eight percent. We are in effect giving them fourteen and a half percent, because we are raising their salaries and unfreezing two of their increments. Each increment is approximately three percent… That is what we are offering them.”

He went further to suggest that the union may not be negotiating in good faith. “Now they ask for the eight and a half and we give them eighteen and a half, I don’t think they are acting in good faith,” he added.

Teachers countrywide staged a sickout in response to the government’s offer.