After consulting with attorney-at-law, Lois Young Barrow, the NTUCB has amended GOB?s seven-point proposals. As we were going to press after l0:00 tonight, the NTUCB are guarding their amendments closely.
The only amendment that Amandala could confirm tonight was that the union has added the University of Belize?s Faculty and Staff Association to the group to receive the salary increase. The national university?s faculty and staff had been promised the 5% and 8% salary increases given to public officers last April 1, but had only received half of it. That half was only processed late last year, and was the result of internal penny-pinching by UB president, Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis, and her financial advisor – accountant Cedric Flowers.
Last night the NTUCB reached a compromise with the government negotiators, Minister Assad Shoman and Dr. Carla Barnett, on the point of the tax increases. The union agreed that the taxes be rolled back for one month, instead of the three-month roll back that they initially requested.
The union, however, was unwavering on the issue of the salary increases, and insisted that it be honoured in its entirety on the deadline, April 1, 2005.
Following the meeting with the NTUCB last night, the government negotiators took back the union?s proposals to the GOB. The Prime Minister?s Cabinet met this morning to discuss the NTUCB proposals, which they accepted, presumably speedily.
The set of proposals that were tabled to the unions today called for their salary increases of 5 and 8 percents to be paid in full on April 1, taxes be rolled back until March 1, 2005 ? and during that interim an NTUCB committee would work with the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to further discuss the taxes.
Dr. Barnett said that the NTUCB committee would have to dialogue with the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to determine what projects could be cut from the capital expenditure in order to meet the full salary increases for the public servants and teachers.
The proposals also said that GOB and the NTUCB would continue to work together on the January 31 union proposals and monitor the performance of the budget. Additionally, the entire tax system would be reviewed by both the NTUCB and the GOB.
But, more importantly, GOB also agreed to pay the wages or salaries for those public servants, teachers, and members of the University of Belize Faculty and Staff who were on strike, and pledged not to seek the termination of any worker who participated in the strike action.
This particular point had a condition, though, that all protest actions, sick-outs, and go-slow actions cease, and that the teachers and the public servants return to work on Friday, February 4, the day set for the national march in the old capital, and agree to make up the time that was lost. The condition stipulated that tomorrow?s protest rally be cancelled, and that the workers return to their duties tomorrow.
Shoman said that in last night?s negotiations GOB requested that the shutdown and all industrial strike action cease immediately, meaning that the teachers would return to the classrooms and the public servants would return to their offices and resume work as usual.
The unions, however, told Shoman that considering that the proposals were not agreed on yet, the strike action would continue for Thursday, but if GOB agreed and presented the proposals, unchanged, by midday today, they would call off the strike action and demonstration scheduled for Friday, February 4.
Minister Shoman gave the unions until 5:00 this evening to decide whether they would sign the proposals. The unions, however, did not meet that deadline. Considering that the unions did not meet this deadline, and in fact have made changes to the proposals, which, incidentally, they tabled to GOB, it is difficult to say how the GOB will respond to the new NTUCB proposals.
After Cabinet met this morning, both Dr. Carla Barnett and Minister Shoman, GOB?s negotiators, came back to the NTUCB with the signed proposals (signed by PM Musa on behalf of GOB) of what the unions had tabled last night, without any changes, according to Minister Shoman.
Initial indications from George Frazer, general secretary of NTUCB and secretary of the Belize National Teachers? Union (BNTU), were that the union leaders were in agreement with the proposals and were willing to sign it, but that there were some points that needed to be clarified before doing so.
One point, and it is important, was that the one-month roll back of the taxes did not have statutory provisions. He said that GOB would either have to repeal or suspend the taxes, and then monitor the business community to ensure that prices on items that have gone up already, return to normal.
As the GOB negotiators sought to end the national crisis, the union leaders, now seemingly on their negotiating heels after GOB?s sudden semi-capitulation, left the BNTU boardroom to consult amongst themselves on whether to accept the proposals.
The BNTU council of management, comprising ten branches, voted on whether to accept the proposals. Eight of the ten BNTU branches, all in the districts, voted to accept the proposals. The leaders of the other two BNTU branches ? Belize City and Belmopan, said that they needed the proposals to be clarified and submitted to their general membership before they could make a decision. Some teachers claimed that the decision to accept GOB?s proposals was made by BNTU district presidents without consulting their members.
BNTU secretary, George Frazer (also the NTUCB general secretary), told Amandala late this evening, before the NTUCB press conference, that they have asked their teachers to return to the classrooms because they have gotten a majority mandate from their council management to accept the proposals. He stressed that the teachers need to return to the classroom and that the teachers cannot afford for their salaries to be docked if they do not return to the classrooms, as per the proposal that the majority agreed to.
While the BNTU has gotten a majority mandate from its council of management and would not be participating in the protest rally tomorrow as a union, the other NTUCB unions ? the Christian Workers? Union (CWU); Belize Workers? Union (BWU); Belize Communications Workers? Union (BCWU); Belize Water Services Workers? Union (BWSWU); Belize Energy Workers? Union (BWEU); Association of Public Service Senior Managers (APSSM); and the Public Service Union (PSU) ? have said that they have not gotten a mandate from their members and will proceed with their strike/protest action.
The BNTU?s decision to ask their teachers to return to the classroom has caused some dissension amongst the seven other unions, evidenced during their press conference late tonight.
The NTUCB announced that it would proceed with its protest march tomorrow, starting and culminating at the Yarborough Green tomorrow morning at 8:00.