Special Tourism Licensing Meeting

December, 2005

          The meeting covered a very wide range of topics including the need for VHF repeater stations strategically placed at crucial points along the cayes. The Belize Tourism Board committed themselves to assisting in the funding for this project and Mr. Anderson pledged $1000 on behalf of the Belize Disaster And Rescue Response Team. Another topic that stirred up quite a buzz was who actually needs a tour operators’ license. The way the law reads is that anyone that operates his or her own equipment in the process of conducting a tour needs a tour operators’ license. This includes the individual tour guide who runs their own boats or vehicles for tours.
          A full copy of the minutes of this meeting have been emailed out to members of the Placencia BTIA and are available to been seen by the general public at the Placencia Tourism Center.

First District Governor's Visit For The Rotary Club of Placencia Luncheon

The Crow's Nest Cafe, Bar & Grill - November 14, 2005

December, 2005

          On November 14, 2005, Governor Hector Guillen was welcomed to Placencia by the Board of Directors of The Rotary Club of Placencia, Jose Chan, Debbie Coston, Maria Cabral, Janet Parks, Martha Eiley, Ted Berry & Corol Bevier, along with past president of San Ignacio Rotary Club, Mr. Andre Lopez & Mrs. Lopez, at a luncheon held at The Crow’s Nest Café, Bar & Grill where the Placencia Rotary Club meets every Monday at 12:30 p.m.
          The District Governor was very impressed with the new club’s accomplishments, one of which was installation of the flag pole that is standing by the village’s football field and bringing back the Flag Raising Ceremony on the eve of Belize’s Independence Day.
          After the luncheon, the governor was taken for a short walk to see the flag pole and Placencia’s famous sidewalk, once known as the narrowest main street in the world. He was also taken for a tour of Placencia’s coast on his way to Rum Point, who was hosting the Governor’s Dinner that evening.

THE ROTARY CLUB OF PLACENCIA
GOVERNOR’S DINNER
November 14, 2005 - Rum Point Inn

By Maria Cabral
           The Governor’s Dinner was held at Rum Point Inn with the members of the Rotary Club of Placencia, Honorable Guests and Mr. Hector Guillen, District Governor. The Welcome Address was given by Eugenie Gab
ourel, who expressed our welcome to the Governor in Placencia. The President’s Address was given by the president of the club, Jose Chan. Jose Chan spoke of the newness of our club and our eagerness to continue serving our community. Mr. Andre Lopez gave the Introduction of the Governor to the Club and was delighted to be a part of such event as this was the first of many visits to come. Mr. Hector Guillen gave the Governor’s Address and announced the District Conference will be held March 1st – March 5th in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. He encouraged all members to be part of the conference and to continue the work of Rotary in Placencia. A beautiful wine holder with “The Rotary Club of Placencia” engraved on the fish décor was given to the Governor by Maria Cabral as a token of appreciation. To close the ceremony, Janet Parks gave the Thank You Address. She thanked Mr. Hector Guillen, honorable guests and members for making this visit a reality. The dinner continued with food and drinks.

Children's Week Nov. 21 - 25, 2005

December, 2005

          The activities for Children’s Week this year at the St. John’s Memorial School in Placencia included a Social Studies Quiz Competition, a Beach Clean-Up, Sports Activities on the Beach and an afternoon of Arts & Crafts.
          Students from Standard V & VI participated in the Social Studies Quiz Competition which was organized by Standard V Ms. Kelly. The seven students that took part were Alma Burgess, Levi Cabral, Minnette Whylie, Haley Eiley, Ashley Glenn, Marco Supaul and Shanice Westby. When the competition was over Ashley Glenn was awarded first place, Levi Cabral second place and Alma Burgess third place. Congratulations to the all the students that took part in the competition!!!!

Top three students in the St. John’s Social Studies Quiz that took place on Tuesday November 22, 2005.

Photo by Juan Caducio

Wendy's Restaurant - Great New Look - Same Good Food

December, 2005

          For three days the windows of one of Placencia’s favorite dining spots – Wendy’s Restaurant & Bar, owned and operated by Ms. Wendy Lemus – were covered over with old newspaper and the door with a plastic tarp. Mysterious sounds came from within, the few people who were allowed inside would reemerge later with earth tone paint smudges all over and when anyone would question Wendy she would reply with a ready smile and a bright sparkle in her eye, “It’s a secret… You’ll just have to wait and see.”
           On the morning of the fourth day what was revealed blew everyone away…. The diner style atmosphere that everyone was accustomed to was gone and what was in its place was a charming old Hispanic pueblo style restaurant. It was literally like walking through a portal into another world.
          Wendy knew the food at her restaurant was good, the full tables throughout the day was proof enough, but she wanted her place to be more then somewhere to just stop in for a bite – she wanted it to be a fine dining experience. And what better way to achieve that then a makeover? She sat down with Hannah Cowell and Terrie Dobson from Design A Space, gave them an idea of what she was hoping for and then turned them loose. Hannah and Terrie outdid themselves in the two relief paintings created especially for Wendy’s and achieving an ambience not found anywhere else in Placencia.
          Stop by Wendy’s Restaurant and Bar to see for yourself and if you think your business or home might need a makeover consult with Hannah and Terrie of Design-A-Space. Tel: 523-3587, 523-3256 or 661-7176.

Current List Of Tour Guides

December, 2005

Placencia/ ICRAN Mesoamerican Reef Alliance Earns “Best Environmental Initiative”
Status from Scuba Diving Magazine

December, 2005

          The Mesoamerican barrier reef, stretching from the Yucatan to the Bay Islands of Honduras and including the whole Belizean coast, is a wealth of biodiversity, threatened by overfishing, pollution, climate change, coastal development and increased tourism.
           Internationally funded by the United Nations Foundation and United States Agency for International Development, the ICRAN Mesoamerican Reef Alliance is an ambitious conservation effort looking to develop better business practices in the areas of watershed management, fisheries, and tourism. The tourism component of the project is being led by an impressive array of organizations, including the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL); World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Working under the umbrella of the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN), the Mesoamerican Reef Alliance project (ICRAN MAR) has begun to work towards its main objective: Save Our Reef! A special computer workshop area has been developed and donated especially for this project by Underwriters Laboratories to enable task force members to collaborate via the web to create the standards, first for Scuba, then to include snorkeling, boat operations, and beachfront and poolside activities.
          Having targeted this, a pilot program addressing Sustainable Marine Tourism, has already begun by first selecting three target sites: Playa del Carmen, Mexico; Roatan, Honduras; and our very own Village of Placencia, Belize!
          The initial workshops in Placencia were held 28th and 29th November 2005 with about 40 local tour operators and guide members attending each night. These workshops, hosted by Rich Wilson, Program Manager: Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) for ICRAN; and Shalini Cawich, Program Assistant: WWF Central America; were mainly brainstorming sessions whose goal was to identify the main threats to our own coral reef, and then establish workable guidelines to develop regional programs to reduce or eliminate these threats. These programs, as well as the workshops to develop them and the projects that come out of the sessions, are entirely local-driven, on a collaborative effort with all three target sites.
          The main focus of the groups in this session was developing voluntary standards for any tourism that directly impacted our own barrier reef after identifying the major threats, ranking them, and then establishing possible solutions to reduce or eliminate these threats. The top three threats identified coming out of the sessions were pollution, anchor damage, and inexperienced guides/snorkelers/divers. The group then focused on possible projects to deal with these threats, which in turn will be reviewed by the international organizations involved and who will then help finance these projects with mini-grants up to US$4,000.
          Literature and other information from CORAL, on voluntary standards to manage environmental impacts in marine recreation, is currently available at the Placencia Tourism Center which, along with Friends of Nature, is helping the group coordinate the program locally.
with mini-grants up to US$4,000.
          Literature and other information from CORAL, on voluntary standards to manage environmental impacts in marine recreation, is currently available at the Placencia Tourism Center which, along with Friends of Nature, is helping the group coordinate the program locally.

Function Of The Labor Department

December, 2005

FUNCTION OF THE LABOR DEPARTMENT

1. Implementation of labor legislation

2. Inspection of all places where labor is employed

3. Foster trade unionism

4. Promote healthy industrial relation through conciliation, and arbitration

Presently there is no industrial court or tribunal in Belize. Our alternative is the Magistrates Court. The following is important to note in our labor regulation.
 

NOTICE
 

Period of notice
Over 2 weeks to 6 months                                             3 days
Over 6 months to 1 year                                                1 week
Over 1 year to 2 years                                                   2 weeks
Over 2 years                                                                 4 weeks
     The first two weeks of any employment is considered probationary and may be terminated by either party without notice

DISMISSAL
 

Good and sufficient cause for dismissal without notice

1. Misconduct (whether on the job or not)

2. Willful disobedience to lawful orders

3. Lack of skill which the worker express to possess

4. Habitual or substantial neglect of duties

5. Absence from work without permission or other reasonable excuse

HOURS OF WORK, OVERTIME, PUBLIC AND BANK HOLIDAY
 

Overtime
A worker who works more than,

• 8 hours per day in accordance with the Shop Act;

• 9 hours per day in accordance with the Labor Act,

• 6 days per week; or,

• 45 hours per week should be paid at the overtime rate of one and one-half times the regular rate.

           A worker is not obligated to work overtime hours. There must be mutual agreement between and employer and worker to work overtime hours.

Public and Bank Holiday
There are thirteen public and bank holiday in Belize. All work done on Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter Monday are paid twice the ordinary rate or doubt time. All other public and bank holiday are paid at one and a half the ordinary rate. This is in addition to a regular day’s pay for the holiday. (Some businesses under the Shop Act are exempted from making these payments.)


ANNUAL LEAVE
          Every worker at the end of each year is entitled to an annual holiday of at least two (2) working weeks. Where a worker is terminated before becoming entitled to the holiday and has worked 3 months in respect of the Labor Act and 1 month in respect of the Shop Act, vacation accrues.
          This is calculated as total remuneration, excluding overtime, divided by 26 per Labor Act and 1/6 times weekly wage time # of months worked per the Shop Act.
          A worker paid by the hour, by the day, by piece or by task should be paid a day’s pay as holiday pay, if he is at work on the scheduled work day immediately preceding and immediately following the public and bank holiday. Please note that the public and bank holiday has to fall on a normal working day for the worker to qualify for the holiday pay.

PUBLIC AND BANK HOLIDAY/REST DAY
          If the rest day is the same day every week and a public and bank holiday falls on the rest day, then the worker is NOT entitled to ay for the public and bank holiday.
          If the rest day fluctuates, i.e. it is different day every week and the public and bank holiday happens to fall on the worker’s rest day, then the worker is entitled to pay for the public and bank holiday, once he is at work the scheduled work day before and scheduled work day immediately following the holiday, provided that the worker is not to lose from a regular week’s wages if a public holiday falls on a regular work day.

SICK LEAVE
         A worker has to be employed for at least sixty days to be entitled to sick leave. Within any twelve month period, he is entitled to sixteen (16) working days sick leave with pay. The worker must be on the job for at least sixty days to quality for sick leave with pay.
         A worker should produce a medical certificate to be entitled to sick leave wit pay. An employer should give a worker in writing forty-eight (48) hours to produce a medical certificate.

PAYMENTS FOR SICK LEAVE
         First three (3) days paid by the employer. Next 13 days of illness shared between employers and Social Security. Where a worker is not entitled to benefits under S.S., employer is liable for the sixteen days sick leave payments.

SEVERANCE PAY
Where a worker has been continuously employed by any employer

1. For 5 years or more and his service is terminated, he should be paid one week’s wages for each complete year of service.

2. On retirement at age 60 with 10 years of service or more, one week’s wages for each complete year of service.

3. On medical grounds with 10 years of service or more, one week’s wages for each complete year.

In the case of casual workers, they must work an aggregate of 180 days in a year to be entitled to service who resigns his employment is entitled to one week’s wages for each complete year of service.

MATERNITY LEAVE
          Maternity benefits are paid by the employer to workers who are not covered by the Social Security Act. During the twelve months receding confinement, the worker should have been employed by the same employer for a total of not less than one hundred and fifty days to quality for maternity benefit from the employer. A female worker is entitled to 6 weeks before and 6 mandatory weeks after parturition (birth) at half pay. Please note that an employer cannot dismiss a worker during this period.

MINIMUM WAGES

1. All manual workers except those engage in agriculture, or agro industry, or export oriented industry -$2.25 an hour e.g. construction worker.

2. All manual workers engaged in agriculture, agro-industry, export-oriented industry- $2.00 an hour e.g. farm workers, at sewing factory.

3. Workers who are employed where liquor is sold and consumed-$2.25 an hour e.g. waitresses.

4. Workers employed in shops where liquor is not sold and consumed -$2.25 per hour e.g. gas stations, dry good stores.

5. Domestic workers employed in private homes-$2.25 per hour.

6. Domestic workers employed in boarding houses, guest house, hotels, and other public establishments-$2.25 per hour.

Please note that minimum wage only cover workers. Workers who possess a certificate or additional training must negotiate their wages.

SHIFT WORKERS
It is permissible to employ a shift worker without paying overtime if the average number of hours over a period of three weeks or less does not exceed the daily or weekly number of overtime hours.
E.g.  75 hours -week 1
        30 hours- week 2
        30 hours- week 3
        Total 135 hours divided by 3 weeks = 45 hours, so this employer does not have to pay overtime. The employer does not have to pay overtime. The employer is still obligated to pay the worker additional overtime wages for any work done on public and bank holidays.

PUBLIC AND BANK HOLIDAYS IN BELIZE
New Years Day                                      1.5
Baron Bliss Day (9th March)                    1.5
Good Friday                                           2.0
Holy Saturday                                        1.5
Easter Monday                                       2.0
Labor Day (1st May)                               1.5
Commonwealth Day (24th may)               1.5
National Day (10th September)                1.5
Independence Day (21st September)        1.5
Pan-American Day (12th October)            1.5
Garifuna Settlement Day (19th November) 1.5
Christmas Day                                        2.0
Boxing Day (26th December)                   1.5
 

          To date there are thirteen public and bank holiday as indicated above. ONLY three are holiday for which a worker is to be paid double time for the hour actually worked on those days. They are indicated above by the number 2.0. All other are time one-half the regular rate as indicated by the number 1.5.
 

RESTRICTED DEDUCTIONS

          Section 105 of the Labor Act strictly prohibits an employer from making any deduction or any agreement or contract with a worker to deduct money from a worker’s wages for or in respect of any fine or for bad or negligent work of for injury to the materials or to other property of the employer.
 

A NOTE TO WORKERS

         All oral contract of service, that is contracts made by word of mouth, are governed by the Labor Act. It is contrary to the law to make any oral contract that violates any provisions of the Labor Act that govern oral contracts.
          Workers are to ensure that their employers make deduction for Social Security contributions and pay those deductions into the Social Security Office. A worker should check with the nearest Social Security office to see whether or not the employer is paying. The mere fact that an employer makes Social Security deduction does not mean the deductions are actually being paid into Social Security.
          A worker should not leave it to the employer to register him/her and assist with obtaining a Social Security ID card.
 

A NOTE TO EMPLOYER

          Employers are required to make Social Security deductions for all their workers and all to forward those payments to the Social Security Board.
          Employers are required to keep and maintain employment records for their worker in accordance with section 16 of the Labor Act. Those records should include: name and address of the worker; rate of pay; hours and dates of work; rate of overtime; gross pay for each pay period; and signature of employee in respect of each period.
          The keeping of records is legal obligation that actually protects the employer in the event of labor dispute wit a worker.