NTUCB Says Judges Salary Increase is Not Fair Play

Effective yesterday, February 1, 2023, there was an increase in the base salaries for members of the judiciary. A photograph of a memo from the Ministry of Finance began circulating on social media earlier this week, where it was revealed that Justices of the High Court of Justice will now be receiving one hundred and seventy-five thousand Belize dollars per annum, tax-free. This recent increase has raised concerns for the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB), especially given that public officers and teachers have not received their increments. President of the NTUCB, Luis Luke Martinez, says that these increases in salaries for one sector of public workers while another set consistently gets the shorter end of the stick will eventually begin to create more division among the public. 

Love News reached out to Prime Minister, John Briceño, for comment. He says (quote) “This was done after much debate in Cabinet. But, the reality is that our judges are quite likely the lowest paid in the Caribbean. Our judges are leaving because of that. Two have recently left and we are not attracting judges. With great hesitation, we finally agreed to these raises.” (end quote)