In what has got to be the height of hypocrisy, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB), an organization that has sat mute in the corner as the Belize City Council fired over 200 workers since 2006, will now join with that same Council in a “Labour Day Fest” under a theme of respect for workers.  No problem with the booth to educate workers on their rights, but where was/is the Union’s condemnation of the violation of those same rights.

In July 1919 a race riot erupted in Belize City as a result of racial discrimination felt by the Belizean soldiers who served in the British West Indies Regiment and the squeeze felt by all workers because of repressive labour laws.  Fifteen years later the workers began to express their discontent in a more organized form, as the Unemployed Brigade marched through Belize in February 1934, sparking the birth of the nationalist movement.

That same year, Antonio Soberanis formed the Labour and Unemployed Association (LUA) at a time when trade unions were illegal.  The LUA used strikes, picketing and demonstrations to protest the condition of the working class.  Soberanis and the LUA persisted, and in 1943 the laws were amended to allow unions.  The first union registered was the General Workers Union, and it quickly grew in membership and strength. 

It was out of the fires of the labour movement that the People’s United Party was molded.  The PUP is a Party rooted in unionism and the cause of the working man and woman.  The PUP is a Party of workers with a social justice philosophical foundation.  Critics of the Party have successfully propagated the suggestion that the PUP has strayed from its workers’ roots, and the result was rejection at the polls.  But which is the Party that believes every Belizean of whatever political hue has the right to work and provide for their family?  Which is the Party that rejected IMF retrenchment austerity measures and instead developed a home-grown model to keep unemployment down? 

The PUP has stood and continues to stand with the Belizean workers.  If anything, it is the union leadership that the Party has had problems with.  But that is only because they have not done their job.  They have not stood up firmly enough for their members.  They have been infiltrated and corrupted by the arbiters of hate and victimization.  As a result, they are forced to remain silent as massive firings persist and as salary increases promised to teachers, soldiers, police officers and other public servants by the PUP government have been abandoned and rejected by the cold-hearted UDP.  Why the silence, Mr. Gomez?  Why the silence, Mr. Frasier?  Why?

On this Labour Day, the PUP returns to the workers and asks them to unite.  We need to work together to fight this fresh red tide of victimization.  We must all work.  We must all reap the benefits of the great resources God has blessed us with.  We can do it together if we unite.  Join us in this struggle.