BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Apr. 22, 2021– The Belize National Teachers Union (BNTU) has sent a letter to the Ministry of Education giving official notice of strike action to commence on Monday, April 26, 2021.

The letter, dated April 15, 2021, is addressed to the Minister of Education, Francis Fonseca; his CEO, Diane Maheia, and the Chief Education Officer, Yolanda Gongora, and was written by the national president of the BNTU, Elena Smith, on the direction of the council of management for the union.

“The grounds for such industrial action is to express our disappointment and dissatisfaction with the Government’s intended draconian measures of exorbitant salary cuts and increment freeze for the next three years,” the letter states.

The BNTU is demanding that the negotiations between the government and the unions recommence and that the parties be allowed to find a “workable and reasonable solution” to the economic fallout facing the country.

The letter goes on to state, “We also insist that our government listens to the call of our people and move to immediately address and eradicate the corrupt practices which have brought us to where we are today.”

The release ends by reiterating the union’s willingness to work with its government counterpart to “bring an amicable solution to what can only be referred to as an impasse.”