Teachers Still Waiting for Payments Despite Promises

Tonight, several teachers are still waiting for their overdue allowances and increments from the Government of Belize, despite the Ministry of Education’s promise to resolve the issue today. So, what’s causing the delay, and is the government to blame? Late this evening, we spoke with Nadia Caliz, President of the Belize National Teachers Union (B.N.T.U). She explained that while funds have been sent to the respective school managements, other issues are holding up the payments. Caliz stated that the B.N.T.U. has given the government until December thirty-first to fix the problem. She also confirmed that the notice of industrial action in early January is still in effect.

 

Nadia Caliz, President, Belize National Teachers Union

“I cannot tell you that they have settled it a hundred percent.  What I do know is that we met with government on Tuesday for an update and they said that teachers would receive their increments and allowances today.  What happened is that from yesterday some teachers were paid and we learned that a huge group did not receive any increment or any allowances.  The method the government used was to give the managements a grant and the managements had the responsibility of paying the teachers.  Some of the information we received today from a large number of teachers is that they called the managements asking why is it that I wasn’t paid, like, you know, tell me why.  And the managements are saying that the commission, it should be TAS, the Teachers Administrative Services, they did not approve it.  The teachers then took it upon themselves to call TAS.  TAS is now telling them, yes, it was approved from July, from January, they can give specific dates.  Call back the managements, “Oh, we did nit get the increment certificates.”  So there is a whole series of blame game going on right now.  When I think about it, government is trying to pinpoint where the problem is.  With all the responses I got today from some of our teachers, they’re trying to pinpoint where the problem is.  If you look at it from a Pontius Pilate kind of perspective, “Sih di money ya, pay dehn. You deal wid dehn, you know dehn, you employ dehn, you deal with dehn.”

 

Isani Cayetano

“And wash their hands of the situation.”

 

Nadia Caliz

“What we are doing from our end, we are holding everybody accountable.  I called Minister Fonseca and I said to him, the teachers are not happy because they have not received it.  They assured us that they will touch base with the management.  So every name coming in, every information we are getting in, Sister Keisha, sending it forward, we are sending it forward.  But it is showing that the managements don’t have the proper mechanism to deal with this.  They don’t.  And for teachers who are owed two, three, four, five years, it’s worse, and some of them can show you the communication, the responses from the management over a period of time, all of that, and we have been forwarding these things to the TAS, Chie Gongora, and getting back our responses.  There is a serious issue with how teachers are being paid and it needs to be corrected.  They promised us that they are going to work on it.  Well they have started already by mapping out the process, trying to remove all the anomalies so that by the, let me say the first of September, 2025, there is a better system in place.”

 

Isani Cayetano

“The government, in a sense, has met its pledge.  The monies have been paid out.  Now you’re looking at a different scenario in terms of getting the money to the teachers.  What does January 2025 look like, in light of what would have been any form of industrial action taken by the BNTU and its membership?”

 

Nadia Caliz

“That is still on.  Teachers are demonstrating, or teachers will demonstrate if the situation is not fixed.  Government, management, whomsoever is responsible, that demonstration is connected there.  They want to register their discontent, it’s time and past time.  I cannot tell you that we will proceed.  I cannot tell you that we will not proceed.  Our deadline, the deadline that the membership voted on is the thirty-first of December and we cannot move the goalpost.  That’s the date we gave the government.  They made a move from the twentieth to the thirty-first to correct this.”