On November 12, 2026, Belize’s Christian Workers Union (CWU) issued a formal public appeal to Prime Minister John Briceño, demanding immediate executive action to curb widespread disregard for national labor laws among state-affiliated employers that have repeatedly eroded core worker protections for organized labor members. The union’s leadership highlighted a pattern of unaddressed labor disputes across multiple public and quasi-public entities, drawing explicit parallels to past protracted conflicts at the Port of Belize Limited (PBL) that were only resolved following a full leadership overhaul at the port, a outcome the CWU says it now fully endorses. During a press briefing, CWU president Leonora Flowers emphasized that the union will not stand idle as employers, including a currently unnamed government-linked agency, continue to violate provisions of active collective bargaining agreements (CBA) and undermine union organizing activities. Flowers, who was re-elected to a second three-year term as union head last May, called directly on the Ministry of Finance and Prime Minister Briceño to hold accountable the public sector management teams that oversee thousands of Belizean workers, stressing that no employer, regardless of their public affiliation, operates above national labor regulations. CWU vice president Ella Waight further elaborated that the unnamed troubled entity has already been the subject of multiple successful union claims, with cases escalating all the way to the Essential Services Arbitration Tribunal (ESAT) after prior interventions from the national Labor Department failed to resolve persistent unfair labor practices. Waight noted that a leadership shakeup at the un-named agency is the most viable path to repairing the broken labor relationship, rather than continuing costly, drawn-out legal battles that deliver no long-term stability for workers. The union’s public appeal comes on the heels of a September 2026 ESAT ruling that found the Central Bank of Belize acted unlawfully when it terminated long-tenured employee Dapheen Bowen, after the institution skipped mandatory disciplinary protocols explicitly outlined in its binding collective bargaining agreement with the CWU. The union’s leadership has also flagged ongoing, unresolved labor tensions with the Belmopan City Council as part of the broader systemic pattern of non-compliance it is pushing the prime minister to address.