B.N.T.U. Still Protesting in January?

In December, the Belize National Teachers Union (B.N.T.U.) voted to stage a protest this month to pressure the Briceño Administration to address the long-overdue payment of teachers’ outstanding increments. However, with January nearly over, there has been no indication of when—or if—the demonstration will occur. The government had pledged in December to settle these payments before the end of 2024. Today, B.N.T.U. President Nadia Caliz appeared on Open Your Eyes, where she provided an update on the status of the planned protest.

 

Nadia Caliz, President, B.N.T.U.

“Belize is used to seeing BNTU in a more confrontational approach. And we have decided to change our strategy. I want to come straight to what is on the minds of the members, the demonstration membership voted on. I made it clear to you in my interview in December that the membership voted for, and my membership needs to remember this: they voted for a demonstration in January. January first to the thirty-first is still January. And you see, the union is a very powerful organisation, and my union needs to understand that we don’t need to flex our wings and show how powerful we are. We know our strength, how capable we are, and sometimes it is good just to sit a little, watch the people as they make their move, because it is like we are playing chess right now. Then you know when you need to come in. Some people are used to this. But it is 2025. You have to know how to achieve your goals.”

 

Paul Lopez

“But you sat for twenty days in January.”

 

Nadia Caliz

“Let me tell you what we are doing. The government used what we call the Pontius Pilate approach. We also call it the hush money approach. We just can’t come out and say we are going to demonstrate against the government because the government gave the money to the management. What we need to do is ensure that teachers who are supposed to be paid are paid. So, what we are doing is from January first up to Friday was gathering data. The council met last week. They came with data, but it was not complete. So, we sent them back. They voted to go back. So, school reps are involved, some principals. So, we need the data. We need to know how many teachers and staff got their increments; some were given three months when they were owed six months. We need to have accurate data.”