Senator Dennison Under Scrutiny For $183K Invoice

BTL has rejected an invoice from Union Senator Glenfield Dennison, but the dispute runs deeper than the six‑figure bill. Dennison advised the Belize Communication Workers for Justice while serving as a Crown Counsel, raising questions about his dual role. The invoice, totaling over one hundred eighty‑three thousand dollars for legal work tied to BTL‑BCWJ negotiations, suggests hefty fees, but Dennison insists he charged the workers nothing. BCWJ backs him up, saying the public is missing the point: they say Dennison has never billed former BTL employees in their long fight for severance, and that it was BTL, not the workers, who introduced the issue of legal fees. Organizer Emily Turner says the real concern is fairness for employees who have waited years to be paid.

 

On the Phone: Emily Turner, Organizer, Belize Communication Workers for Justice

“The BCWJ is extremely grateful for the intervention and assistance of attorney Dennison in helping represent former workers during these negotiations. Mr. Dennison made it clear that he would not charge a single cent to any former BTL worker represented through the BCWJ, and that commitment has remained unchanged. The question of legal fees for BCWJ has never arisen internally within BCWJ because our attorney has chosen to support workers without seeking payment. It was BTL itself that raised the issue of legal fees and the value of our representation. What we find very cute is that BTL now appears interested in discussing the cost of representation for former workers while remaining silent about its own legal expenditures over the years. We have been informed by one of BTL’s own messengers that the company may have spent upwards of twenty million dollars in legal fees pursuing litigation all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

 

If that figure is accurate, it raises a simple question: If tens of millions can be spent on legal fees, why is there resistance to pay workers their severance, along with the same six percent interest the courts have already applied in similar cases? BCWJ consulted several attorneys before Mr. Dennison offered his assistance. The proposals we received included a hundred-thousand-dollar retainer plus ten percent of the total settlement. Another one says twenty percent of the total settlement. Those arrangements would have meant millions of dollars in legal fees borne by workers simply to pursue what the law already provides.”

 

 

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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