Yesterday was Labour Day - the day for workers, and the National Trade Union Congress of Belize invited its membership to be part of a march from Constitution Park to Memorial Park, where they would hold a rally.
In terms of support, it was poor; from a possible membership of more than ten thousand, we only counted about 30 people. That would suggest that it was a failure, but the President of the NTUCB told us that the hope is that a seed has been planted:
Dylan Reneau, President NTUCB
"Today we had a host committee meeting at the ITVETT and it was attended by the chamber and I think we did a masterful job of presenting the workers views on occupational safety and health and in fact the house committee did invite us to be a part of the panel whenever we do the countrywide tour and I am looking forward to that."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, are you able to tell us if you've gathered the opinion that you sway them a bit. I know that chamber was one of the individual groups that came out strong against the OSH bill?"
Dylan Reneau, President NTUCB
"Yes, well we had ask a very pointed question to the house committee which was what was going to sway them to make changes to the bill or what is going to impact the bill and they clearly said from the public consultation that they are going to do, whatever people say they will take very seriously into consideration and in fact last night was like a charm because there were so many people that got up and supported the bill and what it was for."
2014 is being celebrated as the Year of the Workers, where the Unions intend to increase their public profile.
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