PSU Slams “Deficient” Transport Investment Bill

On October 29, 2026, the national Public Service Union (PSU) issued a sharp public rebuke of the newly tabled Public Transportation Investment Bill, labeling the proposed legislation as deeply flawed for failing to outline clear, enforceable protections for frontline public transport workers whose roles will be eliminated as part of the planned restructuring of the sector. At the center of the union’s criticism is the government’s stated plan to effectively dissolve the existing Terminal Management Unit to make way for the newly established National Bus Company (NBC), a transition the bill addresses only in vague, unworkable terms, according to PSU President Dean Flowers.
Flowers emphasized during a press briefing that the current draft legislation offers no concrete guarantees for the roughly dozens of affected workers, many of whom hold permanent, pensionable public service positions. The bill’s only proposed pathway for displaced staff is a generic note that employees may apply for open roles across the broader public service, with the promise that existing rights will be preserved only if they successfully transfer. But Flowers pointed out a critical, unaddressed discrepancy: the employment terms, pay scales, and benefits packages for NBC staff do not align with the long-standing conditions current Terminal Management Unit workers hold under public service regulations, leaving no clear framework for how their accrued tenure, seniority, and benefits will carry over if they are accepted into new roles.
Adding to the union’s alarm, Flowers confirmed that a wave of unexplained mass terminations of transport sector workers has unfolded across northern districts over the preceding three weeks, with multiple formal termination notices sent to staff in Orange Walk, and an additional notice delivered to a Corozal-based employee the very morning of the PSU’s announcement. He noted that even for staff who have not yet been dismissed, the lack of clarity in the bill violates two core pieces of national labor legislation: under the Pensions Act, if a public service position is formally abolished, workers are legally entitled to have their accrued pension calculated and made immediately payable based on their total years of service, while Section 45(3) of the Labor Act mandates full redundancy severance for all employees whose roles are eliminated as part of an institutional restructuring. Flowers argued that the bill’s vague language ignores both legal obligations, putting hundreds of workers at risk of losing decades of accrued benefits without fair compensation. The PSU is now calling on legislators to revise the draft bill to embed explicit, legally binding worker protections before it moves to a parliamentary vote, warning that the union will pursue all available industrial and legal avenues to defend its members’ rights if the legislation proceeds in its current deficient form.