BELIZE CITY, Mon. Feb. 28, 2022– Last week, the Joint Union Negotiating Team (JUNT) and the representatives from the Government of Belize, at a scheduled meeting between the parties, discussed the restoration of the 10% of public workers’ salaries that had been cut, and a number of other important matters. Without going into much detail, the president of the Public Service Union (PSU), Dean Flowers, stated that the government has made a commitment to carry out a phased restoration of the full salaries of public workers. In an interview subsequent to the PSU announcement, however, Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño remarked that Flowers’ comments were “premature.” But today, a leak letter from the Officer of the Prime Minister announced the reinstatement of the 10% salary cut on July 1, 2022.
“My Cabinet has agreed that in this upcoming fiscal year, the Government of Belize will fully restore the wages and salaries of our public officers and teachers. To be more specific, as of July 1, 2022, the 10% reduction in wages and salaries will be no more. It will be restored not in stages, not in increments, but in full as of that date. “ The letter from the Prime Mininster stated.
Flowers had said that while government officials provided no details on a timeline for full restoration, they suggested that the 10% may likely be reinstated in two or three stages. He said that he was told that a discussion of this matter would take place during a Cabinet retreat at a getaway in Cayo that occurred over this weekend. The decision to lift the 10% cut was made at the weekend meeting.
During an interview last Thursday, PM Briceño had said that the members of the government team handling negotiations with the JUNT—DPM Cordel Hyde, Hon. Francis Fonseca, and Hon. Henry Usher—would be reporting to him on the outcome of the meetings held with the JUNT, and discussions would be had on any advancements made.
He said the restoration of the 10% of public workers’ salaries that had been cut will result in an additional 60 million dollars approximately in annual costs, and that while they are not “in any way opposed to giving back the 10%”, they have to consider the global financial crisis facing developing countries.
Either way, Flowers said that the Cabinet is to formulate a definitive decision on the stages of the restoration of the 10% salary cuts and he expressed hopes that there would be no more than two adjustments. As, announced in the letter from the PM, his hopes will be realized with a full reinstatement. Flowers noted that each time a change is made to the salaries of public servants, changes have to be made to the payscales, and more than two adjustments in a single fiscal year would not be ideal.
The letter from the PM states, “On restoration of wages and salaries on July 1, 2022, the work week for public officers and teachers will also revert to the normal work week of 39.5 hours per week. Increments will continue to be frozen for two additional fiscal years as previously indicated unless we are able to achieve an end-of-year primary surplus as a percentage of GDP of no less than 3.5% before then, in which event we shall revisit the matter of increments. “