7 News Belize

Waste Control Pickets City Hall
posted (November 12, 2012)
Could Belize City be facing another garbage crisis? That seems to be a distinct possibility after Belize Waste control went on a go slow today.

The company which collects the city's garbage says it cannot afford to pay a full complement of staff because the city owes them half a million dollars in arrears.

So their workers picketed city hall today - and here's what the assistant manager told us about why they had to do it:...

Employee of Belize Waste Control
"We are protesting this because the mayor owe us money that we worked the whole year for."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, how long have you nor been able to receive any money?"

Employee of Belize Waste Control
"This is from August this year 2012."

Daniel Ortiz
"How are you surviving right now without being paid?"

Employee of Belize Waste Control
"We haven't got paid for a whole week; we need our monies right now."

Employee of Belize Waste Control
"We work hard and we have to care of our family."

Daniel Ortiz
"How long have you not been paid sir?"

Employee of Belize Waste Control
"11 months now they haven't paid the company and we need our "cheedaz""

Daniel Ortiz
"For those 11 months the company hasn't been able to pay you guys?"

Employee of Belize Waste Control
"You said it, we need our pay to take care of our kids because we can go back to what we were doing before we got this job - simple."

Daniel Ortiz
"I heard you guys saying that you don't want to turn into any illegal crime in order to feed your family."

Employee of Belize Waste Control
"That why we got a job and work hard just to avoid corruption and not going to jail."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, how long have you not been paid?"

Employee of Belize Waste Control
"11 months since the company hasn't gotten money."

Daniel Ortiz
"What has those 11 months been for you not getting paid?"

Employee of Belize Waste Control
"Ups and downs, sometime after work we go and wash cars or chop somebody yard to put food on the table for our children."

George Lamb, GM, Belize Waste Control
"It's about close to 40 of our employees. We had to release them earlier due to financial difficulties. we have not been paid by City Council close to 3 months or maybe a little bit more if I want to be exact. For some unexplained reason and I believe probably the council fell off its financial cliff. The Mayor has not been true to us in making payment to our company, that's why we are here. The Mayor has not been true to his word. I talked to him personally back in September and he made a commitment to me that something would have been done, I am still waiting. I have to make payments to my creditors. I have to pay my employees; Christmas is right around the corner. I am certain that the Mayor ensures that he gets his weekly pay as the week is over. Nobody can work for about 3 months without getting paid. We have trucks working, we are working with the limited resource we have. We understand our role in all this. It's not a fight that we want. We are committed to we ensure that the environment of Belize City is preserved and that's one of the driving force behind what we do every day, it's not all money, but we must pay our creditors. To put fuel in those vehicles we must pay our creditors. For those employees we must pay them. That what it's all about - we need to make our payments. We are at the end of our rope; we cannot extend ourselves further than this. It's amazing that we are still here - this is why we release our workers earlier today because come Friday I will not be able to make payments to any of my employees."

Of course, there are two sides to every story. And the mayor says while they may not be current with their payments - the fact is that the sanitation companies have exorbitant fees:...

Darrell Bradley, Mayor of Belize City
"Because of the nature of their contract we have a standing relationship with them - we have an open door policy - we communicate with them in terms of the monitoring of the picking up of garbage. If it was a difficulty - it didn't have to turn out in this particular fashion. Say what they will but in terms of individual workers - I don't think individual workers - all the signs look alike - people are mobilizing, they mobilize at the same time. I mean that's their right, its every person's right to protest, it's part of a democratic process and I don't grudge anyone. An employee can't be owed monies from employer. If the Waste Control is not paying their employees then they go to Waste Control - we don't have a contract with the individual person. These persons are protesting our building, somebody have had to tell them that there was a difficulty in terms of payment or those kinds of issues. Those people are not out there of their own accord."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, but the fact of the matter remains that these people are hardworking employees."

Darrell Bradley, Mayor of Belize City
"I have no doubt that the people are hardworking employees. I am very concern and sad that individual persons who are workers and bread winners for their family have to put in the middle of something like theirs. The reality of the matter is that the sanitation contracts are a significant burden for the city, it's a reality. It's a significant amount of our outlays go to that. What we've been doing is that we've been trying to negotiate with these people to get these burdens to manageable limits, but the reality is that those contracts are something which is unsustainable for the city. We cannot continue to pay these significant outlays for something which is essentially is an obligation which could be handle differently."

"We pay $78,000 every week to one sanitation contract and $55,000 every week to the other. The law says that our obligation as a city is to deal with the infrastructure, the streets and the drains - that's what I am doing, I am dealing with streets and drains. We are putting in place measures so that the sanitation - we could easily bear this. One of the things that we are doing is the residential garbage fee."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, nobody is arguing with you that the money that the City Council is using is not being used properly in terms of this mandate but at the same time these people need to be paid and their company need to be paid as well."

Darrell Bradley, Mayor of Belize City
"What am I supposed to do then? We have a situation, where these people are not being paid. I made 3 payments."

Daniel Ortiz
"It's 3 out of 11 sir."

Darrell Bradley, Mayor of Belize City
"Hold on, you don't know the record of the City Council, so don't speak for the record. I know because I check it every single day. I know every single creditor especially major creditor of the City Council - I track that. I ensure that we never go anything unreasonable, we are not beyond anywhere - beyond last year's outlays and if they could have done it under the last administration - we are not 11 payments. If they could have done it under the last administration - the relationship that they had with the last mayor - I don't see why they couldn't extend that same courtesy to us."

And so, the standoff remains tonight. The City Council has issued a statement saying that it has deployed all its Sanitation employees assisted by a team from its Works Department along with necessary equipment to collect all residential garbage on the Northside. The Council will provide the same services for Southside residents tomorrow.

And so tomorrow, Southside Residents are can put out their garbage as usual. The council says this arrangement will remain in effect until further notice.

For historical context we note that Garbage problems have been chronic in November with picketing by Waste Control employees in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Typically arrears accrue at this time of year because the City's revenues are in a downswing until early December.

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