K.H.M.H. Protest Again over Pension Benefits

For the second time in less than a week, around sixty K.H.M.H. employees took their lunch break to rally in the hospital compound, pushing the government to finally set up a proper pension plan for them. Many of these dedicated workers have been at the hospital for up to twenty years without any retirement plan in place. Despite countless meetings over the years, there’s been no real solution. After Saturday’s protest and a promise from the hospital administration to arrange a meeting with the government, the employees are back today to keep the pressure on. News Five’s Marion Ali was on the scene and has this report.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

During their lunch break, about sixty members of the KHMH Workers Union gathered in the hospital parking lot, chanting to express their frustration with both the current and previous governments for not taking their pension plan seriously. These workers, part of a group of around 250 who have been at the hospital since before 2018, some for as long as twenty years—still don’t have a retirement plan. Vice President Dr. Alain Gonzalez told reporters that the employees are simply turning up the heat on those in power.

 

Dr.  Alain Gonzalez, Vice President, K.H.M.H Workers Union

“We have worked for the hospital. We have worked for the community. We have worked for the people of this country, and we deserve our pension just as any other public workers in this country. Our last meeting, as we mentioned before, was on October 2023. So that would have been maybe almost a year and two months, right? And so we have tried in the past to meet with the government. We have tried in the past to communicate back with them and to reopen the pension negotiation, but it has failed every time.”

 

This issue stretches back as far as twenty years for some employees, who’ve been working all this time without any retirement benefits. KHMH CEO Chandra Nisbet-Cansino describes it as a complicated matter.

 

Chandra Nisbet-Cansino, Chief Executive Officer, K.H.M.H

“It’s been a couple of decades, um, that this issue has been on the table. Cause I had to do some research myself. There have been various legal opinions on this very, very same issue. Before this union took it up, I think it was the Belize Medical and Dental Union. They actually had an attorney look at it as well. And so there are, there’s a lot of meetings that have been held, a lot of opinions that have been given. So it is not a recent concern. And   particularly referring to the period between 2001 and 2017, which is when the authority established a provident fund. So there’s that gap of about 15 years, 14, 15 years, um, where there is no pension coverage for those staff members, despite the fact that they came over from the government voluntarily. Some did not, some of them still remain employees of the government, so it’s not an issue for them, but it’s an issue for those that came over to the authority.”

Cansino said she supports the employees in their plight.

 

Chandra Cansino

“I honestly believe all workers deserve a pension, however, in this particular case, being public serving the public again. I do believe everybody deserves a pension including the workers at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.”

 

KHMH has been grappling with a severe shortage of nurses for over ten years. However, the hospital’s CEO reassured everyone that they have backup plans ready. If the current nurses decide to walk out due to an unfavorable government response, they’ll bring in substitute nurses to keep things running smoothly.

 

Chandra Nisbet-Cansino

“Our contingency plan involves several things, um, including collaboration with the private sector, with other hospitals our session on nurses, et cetera. So yes, there is a contingency plan in place  for nursing and for medicine.”

 

But Gonzalez says the employees do not plan to walk out just yet.

 

Dr. Alain Gonzalez

“We don’t intend to break our services because we know that we are essential workers, and we know that the service that we give is very important. So we have no intention to break our service from the hospital and to the public. Even if negotiations don’t go your way and the government isn’t relenting to your demands? Well, that is something that we probably see in the future. Not at this time. Um, we do have certain plans in place or in motion for that. But that is that we don’t want to go to that extreme as yet.”

 

The meeting with the union leaders, the hospital administration and government representatives will take place on Monday in Belmopan. Marion Ali for News Five.