Sickout at Western Border Enters Third Day

The sickout at Belize’s western border has entered its third day today, with another increase in numbers at one of the country’s key entry points. What started out with eight immigration officers calling in sick on Monday has now climbed to twelve officers reporting sick today, marking a steady escalation over the past three days.  But even as the numbers continue to rise, the Government says there is still no clear indication that this is an organized industrial action.

Minister of Public Service, Henry Charles Usher, says that, similar to the update provided by the Ministry of Immigration, authorities remain uncertain about the basis of the situation. According to the minister, all officers who have been absent since Monday have submitted medical certificates, and no formal grievances, either documented or informal, have been filed through the established public service channels.

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service: “The CEO in the Ministry of Public Service, CEO Zetina has contacted CEO Santos to ask her what the issue might be because there is a dispute resolution mechanism at each ministry level. It’s called a grievance procedure and it’s found in the regulations. So if there is a particular grievance at any ministry, that procedure or those steps are supposed to be followed first. So you bring up the grievance, you try to resolve it there at the ministry level. If that is not possible then it is elevated to the Ministry of Public Service and if it is not able to be resolved there, it then goes to the Public Service Commission. So there are certain steps that need to be followed before we should have gotten to this point where you’re having persons not showing up to work. And so it’s important that we take a pause, we step back and we allow that grievance procedure to start. I don’t know what this particular issue is in terms of what they might be having or putting forward as a grievance that they had. I’ve heard the media speculate on certain issues but we have not gotten anything at public service that to say this is the problem that we have.”

Meanwhile, with the Easter weekend fast approaching, a peak travel period, the government says it is moving swiftly to ensure that operations at the western border remain as smooth as possible.  Minister Usher outlined contingency measures being implemented to maintain continuity, including the reallocation of personnel and adjustments to staffing levels to manage the expected increase in traffic.

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service: “As you said, this is a very important weekend. We are expecting a lot of border crossings. The Ministry of Immigration has been able to bring in workers from other areas, workers that might have been on leave, brought them in and to be able to have those services still being provided. So you’re not seeing a break in service, you’re not seeing any type of delays happening. This isn’t a situation like in the US with TSA, you’re not seeing anything like that. But it is concerning that we have these persons not showing up to work and we have to make sure that if there is a grievance, if there is a dispute that that matter is resolved amicably. But they’re moving people around, persons that may not be in an era that would have this type of traffic over the weekend or leading up to this Easter weekend, putting them out there and bringing persons in from leave, perhaps overtime for certain people, but we’re making sure that the service is being provided that it’s not interrupted.” 

While the situation continues to be closely monitored, officials say their immediate priority is to minimize disruption at the border, even as they seek clarity on what is driving the growing number of absences./