By Belize Live News Staff: Check your closet, Belize. The unions have picked a colour, picked two dates, and picked a fight.
The National Trade Union Congress of Belize has rejected the proposed BTL takeover of Speednet, and now they’re backing that rejection with action. Step one: this Friday, August 14, they want every Belizean who opposes the deal to wear black. No march, no megaphone, just a country quietly dressed in its answer.
Step two is anything but quiet. On Tuesday, August 18, the NTUCB will demonstrate in front of the Sir Edney Cain Building in Belmopan, and the timing is the whole point. That’s the day of the weekly Cabinet meeting where ministers are scheduled to make the final decision on the acquisition. The unions plan to be standing outside while it happens.
They’re calling on sister unions and the public to come out, and word is the teachers might. Reports say the BNTU Council of Management has agreed to join the protest, pending one important step, consulting their membership. Anyone who remembers what happens when the teachers hit the streets knows why that consultation matters.
Why all the heat over a telecom deal? Because this one sits at a rare crossroads. BTL is majority owned by the government. Speednet is the company where, as Jaime Briceño confirmed to 7News, the Briceño family still holds its 22 percent stake, the same subject the Prime Minister has preferred not to dwell on. Nobody has established any wrongdoing, and the government hasn’t made its case in these reports or announced a final position. But plenty of Belizeans have questions, and the unions have decided those questions deserve an audience bigger than a press release.
So the week ahead writes itself. Friday, the country votes with its wardrobe. Tuesday, Belmopan hosts the showdown, ministers inside, protesters outside, and one of the biggest business decisions in recent memory hanging between them.
So tell us, Belize. Will you be wearing black on Friday? And should Cabinet approve the Speednet deal or shelve it? Let us know in the comments.
