And so while there are savings to be realized in the coming year, Government says it didn't have the money to make the payments in the first place! And that's why the PM made it clear today that from the Government's perspective there's no way this measure of breathing room can be used to try and pay for, or justify a wage increase for teachers and public servants. Here's his explanation:
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"If of course we were to do anything such as immediately add back on to the deficit that we would just have succeeded in narrowing something like the two hundred and odd million dollars over three years that the salary demands would represent, we would have ended up in a decision where the public and the international community will say to us well you just succeeded in the fool's gold feet of digging a hole to fill a hole and in fact of digging a larger hole to fill a smaller hole."
Today the National Trade Union Congress of Belize - the umbrella group for all major unions issued a statement saying that, quote, "the NTUCB expresss its total and unconditional solidarity the Association of Public Service Senior Managers, the Belize National Teachers' Union and the Public Service Union."
It adds that "proposal of a salary increase…is being derailed by the official side's position that this is not a matter to be negotiated at this time….the NTUCB registers its complete denouncement of such a stand by the official/GOB side.."
Today the Prime Minister said that there's nothing to denounce, GOB just can't afford it - unless they increase taxes:..
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"I don't know what there is to denounced - the governments' position was we don't have the money at this time. This is an extraordinary juncture in which to proposed adding over three years two hundred and almost 50 million dollars to the wage bill which already represents in excess of 50% of recurrent revenue and so at this juncture to ask what is being asked putting everything that we are working to secure at risk, jeopardizing the future and obliging if we were to contemplate trying to do this. Its 35% and 30%, its not 30%, its 35% for juniors and 30% for seniors - to oblige us to look at, as one example, raising the GST on the population to an excess of 25% to try to realize the money - to asked us to raise the GST in effect to excess of 25% in order to pay these salary increases strikes me as quite honestly a bridge to far and that is all government has been saying."
Later on in the news, courtesy our friends at PLUS TV - we'll have the comments from BNTU President Dylan Reneau.
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