Healthcare staff at Belize’s premier public medical facility, Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH), are pushing for a substantial 20% salary increase as they reopen formal collective bargaining negotiations with hospital management, a move driven by perceived pay inequity compared to other public sector workers across the country.
While employees at other public health institutions across Belize have already secured two consecutive 4% annual salary increases, KHMH workers have been left out of these incremental raises, prompting their union to action as discussions for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) get underway. Beyond the significant pay adjustment, the KHMH Workers’ Union is also advocating for expanded professional allowances and sweeping upgrades to on-the-job working conditions, pointing to the absence of a pension plan for KHMH staff as an additional factor motivating their demands.
Roy Briceño, president of the KHMH Workers’ Union, emphasized that the union’s top priority is resetting productive formal negotiations with hospital leadership. “My executive team and I are fully focused on getting back to the bargaining table and advancing meaningful negotiations for a new CBA,” Briceño stated in an interview ahead of the first official talks.
Briceño explained that the 20% raise demand comes in direct response to the government’s recent pay adjustments for other public employees. “We are asking for a 20% raise for all our staff here at KHMH. We don’t even have a pension plan, and the government has already given two rounds of 4% raises to other government workers – one last year and another this year,” he said.
Notably, early discussions with KHMH’s newly appointed chief executive officer have already laid a positive groundwork for upcoming negotiations. Briceño reported that the initial meeting held with the new CEO was cordial and productive, with both sides addressing longstanding staff concerns and the CEO agreeing to move forward with formal scheduled bargaining sessions.
One critical issue both parties have already committed to addressing is the current low state of staff morale across the hospital, a problem that Briceño says directly impacts the quality of patient care the facility can deliver. “Morale is quite low right now at KHMH. That is something both the union and management are committed to working on together to fix,” Briceño added.
The ongoing talks come as Belize’s public healthcare system continues to grapple with staff retention challenges, making the outcome of this negotiation a closely watched issue for healthcare workers across the nation.