UDP Senator Pitts Says Unions are Free to Protest From Far

National Trade Union Congress of Belize President Ella Waight moved on Wednesday to clearly separate organised labour from party politics, even as unions and the United Democratic Party (UDP) protested the proposed BTL-SMART acquisition outside the Social Security Board in Belize City.

Waight said the unions’ presence was about workers’ rights and public accountability, not political mobilisation. Waight also criticised attempts by some UDP supporters to breach the SSB compound a number of times.

“What the Opposition is doing right now is putting them in a situation,” Waight said on Wednesday during the protest. Waight added that some of the same SSB workers, members of the Christian Workers Union, were considering joining the unions outside. However, the tensions at their doorstep deterred them. “They are scared now. They are not going to come out,” Waight added.

“It defeats the purpose of why the unions are out here. We are not here to break up anything… This is not what the NTUCB is out here for,” Waight said.

Meanwhile, UDP Senator Sheena Pitts rejected suggestions that the party was acting outside the party’s permit to protest and attempting to breach the SSB compound. Pitts said, “There was no determination from leadership of the party that anybody would breach any building. Our protest was dictated by the permit that we got.”

“This idea that the UDP as an independent entity is meeting of the minds with the unions, I don’t know that that has happened,” Pitts added. “If the unions decide that they want to protest and stay far across the street, or somewhere else, they are free to do that.”

Pitts said both groups were opposing the same issue, despite not being under a shared structure.

“It’s great when we are together, shoulder to shoulder, fighting together for the same issue,” she said. “This is a common cause. This is for all Belizeans.”

Union leaders maintain their position remains objective and separate from party politics. News 5 has confirmed with union executives that they will not take part in protests during Friday’s House sitting and will instead mobilise independently on Tuesday.