Staff members at the KHMH sacrificed their lunch breaks once again for a second round of demonstrations. Much like Saturday's protest, they paraded around the parking lot and down the sidewalks, demanding their pension.

And the government is so far listening to them. According to the workers union's vice president, they've got a meeting lined up.

Dr Alain Gonzalez, Vice President, KHMHWU
"We have had some change, the government has reached back out to us after we released our press release and they said we would have our meeting on February 17th which is next week Monday in Belmopan so we have had a response back from the government already."

Courtney Menzies:
"So this is just keeping the pressure?"

Dr Alain Gonzalez, Vice President, KHMHWU
"Yes, we had a mandate when we met last week Saturday with our members that we want to make sure that we hold the pressure and keep the pressure firm because if we slack up, the government might think that we're not serious and we want everyone to know that we are serious, we have put in the work and we deserve our pension."

"It's not bad faith, like I mentioned before, we had already discussed in our meeting on Saturday that we would do this today, which is our peaceful demonstration. It's not bad faith because if you notice, we're doing it during our lunch time and so no staff, no patient, no area in the hospital will be affected because we're actually using our lunch time to do it. A lot of staff that are out here are actually not even working today, like myself, I'm working until tonight so I came out today because most people are available during their lunch time."

So while their peaceful demonstration occurred outside the hospital, the KHMH will still fully functional - at least, for now.

Dr Alain Gonzalez, Vice President, KHMHWU
"None of our services have been broken in the hospital, the emergency continues to run, the outpatient clinic continues to run, the ward continues to run as smoothly as possible, we have everything that continues to run so none of our services have been broken in the hospital so far. And we don't intent to break our services because we are essential workers, we know that the service we give is very important so we have no intention to break our services from the hospital."

Courtney Menzies:
"Even if negotiations don't go your way and the government isn't relenting to your demands?"

Dr Alain Gonzalez, Vice President, KHMHWU
"Well that is something that we will probably see in the future, not at this time. We probably have certain plans in place or in motion for that but we don't want to go to that extreme as yet so we're waiting for that before we actually go to that extreme. It will all depend on what will be said in the meeting on Monday."

"If you guys look around and I don't want to throw any stones but most of us here are older staff. Fortunately for the younger staff they have a provident fund that was put in place in 2018 that was made mandatory so all of us here are the staff that were working between 2000 and 2017, didn't have pension plan, didn't have a pension scheme before, and now we're fighting for that pension that we will deserve."

And they have the support of the CEO:

Chandra Cansino, CEO, KHMH
"I honestly believe all workers deserve a pension however in this particular case, being public workers and serving the public, again, I do believe everybody deserves a pension, including the workers at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. In this particular case, it goes all the way back to 2009, 2010. I think Dr Gonzalez mentioned this morning 4 years but it's been a couple decades that this issue has been on the table."

"We did have some concerns because we are an essential service and essential services workers operate under the act under the law so we did write to the Ministry of Labor yesterday to ask them to please address the issue, which they did. They called a meeting this morning at 8:30 for the authority and the union. We attended the meeting but the union did not show up. Nevertheless we were happy to come back and see that it was a very peaceful protest and that there weren't any excesses in violations of anything at all."

Now, much like the union, Cansino will have to wait and see what the outcome of Monday's meeting will be. But she says she's hopeful that there will ultimately be a solution in the union's favor.

Chandra Cansino, CEO, KHMH
"It's not a straightforward issue so the solution won't be an overnight solution. I think what is frustrating them is that it's taking so long, I mean it's been a while. Not only from this administration, but like I told you, about 20 years behind so like I told you if we were able to commit to meetings closer in time to each other so it doesn't get lost and we have to start all over from the beginning, people change, I think that maybe we'll be able to come up with a solution and I think that that's the plan going forward."

"While the industrial action is taken on the authority, the issue is more with the government at this time. I guess you can look at it and say it's a little bit of both so I am hopeful that this round of meetings and this round of discussions will produce some results because it's certainly for the industrial action to be taken on the authority when we are supporting a solution is a little bit concerning for us because our first concern is patient safety and patient care. and of course if that is compromised then we have to plan as well but it does not take away from the fact, I could say, Karl Heusner staff is the hardest working group of persons in the medical services in Belize and of course are entitled to all of their benefits as well."

Notably absent was the union's president, Andrew Baird, who was reportedly taken in by authorities today for questioning in a criminal investigation.