BELMOPAN, Fri. Apr. 23, 2021– During his presentation in the House of Representatives on Friday, while the budget debate was taking place, Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Cordel Hyde, pointed out that the unions and the Government of Belize are deeply connected by the duties they are bound to perform for the benefit of the wider public. He said that working together is the only way they can end the impasse and move forward with the proper governance of the country, and he publicly condemned his administration’s personal attacks on union leaders.

“We have to work together. We cannot continue to fight each other. We have to continue meeting and improving on this relationship we started over the last month. Our issues are not irreconcilable. The unions are not our enemies; they cannot be. They are our partners. They have to be. They are not a political party. Union members are mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers and brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and sons and daughters … friends, cousins, neighbors. I absolutely detest the personal attacks on them,” Hon. Hyde said.

He also remarked that as a representative on the government’s side of the negotiations with the unions, he and the leaders of the unions have spent many hours in discussion together. He even revealed that the discussions were an eye-opener for him, and he made the observation that the unions and the government have a proverbial Mutually Assured Destruction pact.

He declared, “If they fail, we fail. If we fail, they fail. If we fail, the nation of Belize fails. The future of our children is shot. We need to set aside our differences, Madam Speaker, and focus on our commonalities. This country needs us to work together, now more than ever.”