“Introduce the Occupational Safety and Health Bill…”

National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) this morning interrupted the business of Parliament to let the elected officials of the House of Representatives know that they are not happy that the Government has been stalling in the introduction of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Bill, which NTUCB officials said the Barrow administration had said would be introduced imminently—and which the unions said should have been introduced at this last business meeting for the year.

It turns out that the OSH bill was not on today’s agenda, and an angry NTUCB began chanting in the gallery, calling for the Government to “introduce the Occupational Safety and Health Bill!”

They continued chanting for several minutes before the police were called by the Speaker to eject them from the National Assembly.

Outside the meeting, NTUCB officials told the media that they were not happy that the OSH Bill had been languishing – even as the Government had moved swiftly to pass so many other pieces of legislation.

In fact, today, the Government attempted to pass amendments to the Insurance Act, introduced only today – but only retracted when Leader of the Opposition Francis Fonseca objected to the rush, saying that he had only gotten the draft bill last night and the Opposition had not been given a fair chance to study the proposed amendments.

NTUCB president Dylan Reneau said that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Labour Godwin Hulse had promised the NTUCB – and they have it on tape – to introduce and pass the OSH Bill; yet they have seen bills come after theirs and get passed through the House already.

The NTUCB said that they were moved to make a strong statement on the matter of urgency – not just for workers, but for the country on the whole.

He said that the existing legislation is very archaic, and requires reform in order to ensure the protection of workers, citing the case of a sugar mill worker who was injured on the job and later died.

Reneau’s second-in-command, Marvin Mora, told journalists that the unions mean business for 2014 and the NTUCB will be ready for action.

The NTUCB’s show of protest in Parliament today, they said, was intended to get the attention of both the Prime Minister and the nation.

The NTUCB expressed its displeasure that the Government has not been giving priority to their issues, and they sent the message today that “enough is enough!”