Minister Fonseca Weighs in on C.B.A. Signing With JUNT

Last week, the Joint Unions Negotiation Team signed a Commercial Bargaining Agreement with the Government of Belize after almost two decades of negotiations. One of the sticking points in the negotiations was Proposal Twenty-two which sought to have the Government of Belize pay one hundred percent of the salaries for all teachers, including those in government aided schools. Well, that hurdle was crossed, and the C.B.A. was signed. But, with its expiration date quickly approaching, will the Briceno administration have the same political will to address some of the more complex matters that will arise. We asked Minister Francis Fonseca when we caught up with him earlier today.

 

Francis Fonseca, Cabinet Minister

“Very simple, political will. That was the only obstacle. I am proud of the fact that our government had the political will to do it. It is not cheap or easy but from day one I have been an advocate for resolving this issue. I felt it was an unjust state of affairs where teachers in grant aided institutions were not getting their full pension after you work for thirty, thirty-five years you were only getting seventy percent of your pension benefits. That was unfair, unjust. So I went to Cabinet. It was a part of the C.B.A. But I went to Cabinet and tabled a proposal on how we could meet that issue. We would meet some of the cost out of our existing budget and then the ministry of finance would supplement that with the additional funds necessary. So over a five year period it would amount to about sixty-eight million dollars. So we believe that is an absolute fair and just cost to settle this issue for the benefit of our teachers, the support staff, everybody, the librarians, secretaries, everybody, watchmen, security guards, everybody will benefit form this proposal; I am very proud of the fact that Cabinet ministers supported it fully when I tabled it and the  ministry of finance and the prime minister supported it and we were able to get it done after twenty years.”

Paul Lopez

“With the C.B.A. expiring only a few days from now, do you know if there will be that same political will where tax reform and pension reform conversations are concerned?”

 

Francis Fonseca

“Absolutely, I think it is understood. Even before we finalized this current C.B.A. wee had discussion about tax and pension reforms with the joint unions. I think there is general consensus that these are issues we have to fix and resolve for the long term benefit of the Belizean people. There is good will and good faith and I look forward to these discussion.”