BELIZE CITY, Mon. Feb. 21, 2022– Last week, the union leaders affiliated with the National Trade Union Congress of Belize met with representatives from the International Monetary Fund to discuss the state of the economy as a part of the data-gathering process for the upcoming Article 4 Consultations expected to be released by the IMF sometime later this year. Dean Flowers, president of the Public Service Union (PSU), said that there were no significant developments to report on following the meeting, but he stated that the IMF is not in support of the reinstatement of the 10% salary cut at this time—instead recommending a gradual restitution of public workers’ full salaries.

“We went over the same topics of discussion that the IMF is interested in each year when they come to try to convince us that in essence workers are the cause of the financial crisis that the government is in, both from a wage bills perspective and from a pensions obligation standpoint. We said to them that we’re not the entity, we’re not the ministry that does the hiring, and so that fact that there is the perception that the wage bill continues to be high and growing is neither here nor there – that conversation needs to be had with the government for them to efficiently manage the human resources and manage how public officers are hired within the service. We cannot support, of course, any attempt or any suggestion for retrenchment or any similar exercise,” PSU president Dean Flowers outlined.
Flowers said he believes, however, that government can carry out an evaluation of the public service as they have said they would, in order to determine whether or not public servants are properly placed, and make the necessary adjustment.

“As it relates to pension, of course our position remains as it has always been: public officers are never paid what they’re valued. I don’t think any worker is paid what their value. Workers get paid what they can negotiate, and unfortunately, because we are paid from the public purse, we must give consideration to that fact and so, for the most part, we are underpaid. It cannot be that you take the group of employees which are in the public sector and want to put an additional burden of pension contribution on them when in fact they give of themselves, their service to the country for many years at reduced wages and the little reward that they get, the end which is their pension, you want to now take away from them or have them contribute to that, when in fact this is the exact group of workers driving the economy where spending is concerned. So, we rejected that as we have always done, and we also made it clear that you cannot want to think about pension reform if you do not want to speak about tax reform, which is unbalanced,” stated Flowers.

“The workers of this country continue to bear the unfair burden of being taxed, and being taxed at source, while the private sector in our view is not treated in the same manner. There is also the issue of the tax rate that’s levied on workers versus that which is levied on the professionals who earn millions and millions of dollars,” Flowers further pointed out. He said that the conversation on that topic was lengthy, but they called for tax justice before any proposal for a reform of the pension scheme for public sector workers can be considered.

Also, another issue that was discussed that is close to the heart of workers paid by the government, was the 10% reduction of the wages of teachers and public servants that was implemented by the Briceno administration last year. Flowers said that the IMF representative made clear their position of support for the austerity measures.

“In relation to the 10% cut, I think what they are saying is that they do not support and they cannot support and will not be recommending the reinstating of the 10% and freezing increments. They did, however, say that they may consider informing the government that perhaps there could be gradual implementation of that, but I think that, in essence, what they said is they cannot and do not support the reinstating of the 10% or the unfreezing of increments at this point in time and so, in essence saying that we ought to continue sacrificing while the government gets to take money bill to the House to bail out the private sector,” Flowers outlined.

The Government of Belize has said that this Briceño administration is guided by a homegrown plan of economic recovery and, as such, would not categorically accept any recommendation handed down by the IMF. Flowers said that the PSU expects the government to maintain that position.

“Remember this administration said to us that their plan, their fiscal strategy, was homegrown. It’s a home-grown plan, it’s not an IMF plan, and as such we don’t believe that there is any need for them, the government, to listen to what the IMF is saying as it relates to the 10% salary cut that we expect will be returned as a result of the rebounding of the economy, one, and two, the lack of discipline and authority by the government itself,” Flowers stated.

He went on to say,”Public officers are tired. We’re tired of the sacrifice only for the benefit of the cemented private sector interest and government ministers and their friends and their cronies. We have to stop that, and we’re taking a stand that any discussion concerning any future sacrifice by public sector workers need to include everybody and their needs to be a clear demonstration that the workers, the public sector workers are not the only one sacrificing while others can continue to fleece and enjoy as if we are in a boom. So the IMF position is noted, but, like I said, the government said their plan is a homegrown plan. We expect that they will speak with the owners of the plan, which is the Belizean public, which includes public sector workers.”

He noted as well that during the discussion the IMF representatives made no comment on the responsibility of the private sector to shoulder some of the burden brought on by the austerity measures.

“I would say that they didn’t say much there, which is a damn shame. I don’t think said anything as it relates to that, other than to state that where the efficiency and the effectiveness of the amalgamated Tax Service Department are concerned, that we needed to be a bit more patient to be able to see that department really come alive and carry out its roles and functions in terms of better tax collection, in perhaps, three more years is what was said. But to be honest with you, they had absolutely nothing to say as it relates to that kind of capitalistic mentality by this administration. As a matter of fact, we then informed that as it relates to these IBCs and the fact that Belize was blacklisted as a result of these IBCs that are created in the country who to date we don’t know what their contribution is to the economy other than again, I guess, pursuing the country to register here,” Flowers said.

In reference to the sharing of the economic burden across the private and public sector, Flowers remarked, “If you don’t want to address dealing with your private sector, which continues to cost and rob you via the GST, millions and millions of dollars, if you don’t want to address that, and we see, as a matter of fact, that members of this administration are pro-business, primarily, and when I say pro-business, they are neoliberals, they are private-sector driven and they are anti-labor, and so we have to highlight that as well, that we do not take lightly the fact every time there is a problem, austerity has to be thrown or is always thrown on workers.”

“There has never been one instance that the private sector helped to bail out this country from economic crisis … not one time. It’s always the workers have to sacrifice, the workers have to sacrifice, and we are saying to them that we are not supportive of that narrative anymore, and we are going to stand against that,” Flowers said.