Yesterday, the PUP announced that it planned to mobilize a massive national protest. Politically, the timing is opportune, but to lend it legitimacy and muscle from civil society - the opposition would wish to have the support of the Unions and the NGO's.
Today, at an event for the BNTU we asked the leaders of the PSU, and the BNTU as well as the NGO Senator who told us how they feel about a national protest:
Gerald Henry Jr. - President, PSU
"As with everything that we do, all actions that we take, it must come from membership. Membership has to mandate the council and me to take action on their behalf or announce that there will be acting on their behalf. If we don't get that, we can't just jump up and do it. We're driven by what is called a bottom, up sort of structure, where members are the ones who actually run the union. And then, they will direct the council and me what they want us to do."
Hon. Osmany Salas - NGO Senator
"We have not been approached by the Opposition, but what I can tell you is that as social partners, we have already initiated some discussions, to see what, as social partners, we can organize. We are not waiting for any political party. We - there is a role for us to play. So, the BNN has reached out to the business community, to the NTUCB and the BNTU, and we will reach out to the churches as well, to see what we could do as social partners."
Hon. Elena Smith - President, BNTU
"As you know that BNTU does not take part in these partisan political activities. From time to time, we do know that when the union has these actions, that we are joined by whoever is in Opposition, and we have no control over that. But, for us to go out there, and say that we are joining them, it's not something that we do. We do believe that, yes, action needs to be taken. Too many things have happened, and the Belizean people have been very quiet. We've not been taking a stance, the way we ought to, looking at what has happened. And for us, we believe that action needs to be taken. Whether we are going to be taking action, and when, is a different matter. We are hoping that if we are going to be taking action, we don't want it to coincide, because we don't want to be seen as - people will accuse us anyway. Whether we take it before or after, we will be called Opposition supporters. So, it matters not. But we will decide - we have a meeting right now, and we will decide."
Email
Print