Ruling politicians are glad when September rolls in if only because the celebrations are when we usually take a bit of a holiday from the usual hurly burly of politics. It wasn’t always this way, but things have changed.

   The latest blow up between Dean Barrow and the unions is ludicrous because it is hard to understand how 15 union leaders could come out of a meeting with the PM and get it so wrong. It is telling that with the exception of a brief telephone interview on Vibes Radio by Secretary General Javier Roberts, none of the other people who attended the meeting have publicly supported or opposed Barrow’s contention that they not only got it wrong, but that they got it wrong so badly.

   There are several conclusions we can draw from this, albeit nearly all speculative in the absence of any other explanation other than those from Barrow and Roberts, but the fact is that their explanations emphasize that there is a rift.

   Is Dean Barrow so arrogant that he believes he can achieve his governance goals without the support of the unions? It is fair comment methinks to say Dean Barrow would not be prime minister today if it were not for the support of the unions.

  I think that Barrow co-opted the unions’ leaders several years ago, and almost to a man (woman) they are first and foremost ideological supporters of the UDP. I would love for them to prove me wrong, mind you, but in the absence of rhetoric and actions to the contrary, to quote Dean, I don’t anticipate any kind of retreat from that position.

   It is extremely rare that the owners/employers of Belize’s business community and their employees/workers agree on anything at all, but in 2005 we had the spectacle of both opposed to the Musa administration for what should have been mutually exclusive objectives.

   They joined together to oppose increased taxation and demand that the administration honour the last tranche of a public service pay increase. In the normal scope of things, the business community would oppose the wage increases since it normally incites a general call for pay increases in the private sector.

   In the normal scope of things, unions are not opposed to tax increases that are primarily paid for by the business community since it ensures that there is money for their wage increases.

   Back in 2005 I watched with near awe at how easily Barrow manipulated the unions, and it was then I came to the opinion that the union leadership was primarily his political supporters.  I struggled to understand at the time how anyone or organization could forge and deploy such an unusual alliance and deploy such an unprecedented coalition. In retrospect I can now “see” several things I couldn’t “see” then, and one of them is that the union leadership was majority politically partisan.

   I contend that that is still true today, and it is the single greatest reason why 15 union leaders could go to Belmopan, meet with Barrow, and emerge talking about a victory only to be blasted by Barrow, and are forced to retreat with nary a whimper and scarcely a word.

   If you think about it you just might agree that only political loyalists, lackeys and vassals accept such humiliation without protestation. 

   You may not agree with my opinions, and I am always happy to hear those that may differ. As a matter of fact, I would be more than happy to be persuaded that I am wrong.  Holla!

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