PM Briceño “Very Disappointed” With BNTU Rejection

The teachers have spoken—but now, so has the Prime Minister. Following the Belize National Teachers Union’s overwhelming rejection of the government’s proposed salary adjustment, Prime Minister John Briceño isn’t hiding his frustration. Today, he told News Five he’s disappointed in the union’s decision, insisting that while his administration wants to give more, the country’s finances are stretched thin. With the national wage bill projected to soar past 800 million dollars in the next three years, the PM says a phased approach is the only realistic path forward. But with a strike deadline looming, the standoff is far from over.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“I am very disappointed. 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. Let me repeat again, presently the wage bill for government which includes teachers and BDF, all the workers, approximately sixteen thousand dollars of them, it is approximately seven hundred million dollars. It is close to fifty cents of every dollar we 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 a eight hundred plus million dollars. Now, 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 would be six percent and you add the eight and a half, you are looking at fourteen and a half percent. That is what we are offering them and 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.”