Belmopan, November 11, 2026 – The Christian Workers Union (CWU) is publicly calling on Belmopan Mayor Pablo Cawich and his municipal council to immediately return to the negotiating table to address long-running labor disputes affecting the city’s sanitation and frontline public workers, nearly three years after a fully negotiated updated collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was ready for formal signing. CWU President Leonora Flowers laid out the union’s frustrations during a public address Wednesday, noting that the existing formal collective bargaining framework between the union and the Belmopan City Council has not been updated in 21 years, with a finalized, mutually reviewed new CBA and accompanying employee handbook fully negotiated and agreed to under the prior administration of former Mayor Sharon Palacio before Cawich took office. Flowers emphasized that both Cawich and his senior city administration staff have repeatedly identified themselves as former union members, a stance that the CWU says has not translated into tangible support for the municipal workforce. After taking office, the new council initially requested time to review the pre-negotiated CBA drafts, a process that the union agreed to cooperate with, but three full years of subsequent dialogues have produced no actionable outcomes for represented workers. Frontline sanitation staff who are responsible for keeping Belmopan’s streets clean and collecting residential waste continue to work without proper issued uniforms, have not received long-overdue salary adjustments, and have only been met with a string of unfulfilled promises from the municipal government. During the most recent formal meeting between CWU representatives and Mayor Cawich on August 5 of this year, the mayor stated that the council had no resources to offer the union for wage improvements or CBA implementation, a claim the union is challenging after documenting that the municipal government has continued to add new, unfilled positions to its payroll roster. Beyond labor and compensation concerns, the CWU has also raised alarm over the Belmopan City Council’s opaque handling of a recent sexual assault allegation that reportedly involves the mayor’s personal aide, noting that the lack of transparent process for addressing the serious claim further erodes trust between the municipal government and its represented workforce. The union is now calling on the public to stand in solidarity with city workers, and demanding that Mayor Cawich schedule an immediate, good-faith negotiation session to resolve all outstanding worker grievances without further delay.