But, that's not the only issue that the union wanted to discuss. They are alerting the nation that once again, the stevedores and the Port of Belize are at an impasse.
That's because persistent reports are that BSI/ASR will transfer their sugar export business with the Belize City Port to the Port of Big Creek. That's a major loss in revenue from the waterfront workers who have been working the sugar barges for decades.
Some of the stevedores stand to lose their jobs, and others will see a pay cut of around 40%. And, according to the CWU, no one wants to engage them in the difficult conversation of how this transition would take place. Here's how the President explained the persistent attempts to get answer:
Evan "Mose" Hyde - President, CWU
"Most of you, I believe, are aware that ASR is presently building a storage facility at Big Creek, where they intend to relocate their shipping point, from PBL, from Port of Belize to the Big Creek facility. This was confirmed to us for the first time 2 months ago by the new CEO at PBL, Mr Andy Lane. Even before that, we had been expressing to negotiators from PBL that our members want to sit down and discuss the sugar situation. We have been told incessantly that this is not a matter they're going to engage in at this point. We have gone as far as to write to the Prime Minister of the country, the Honorable Johnny Briceno. We wrote to the Prime Minister on 28th of May, and in that letter, we described to the Prime Minister the serious impasse that was developing on the matter of sugar relation and compensation to our members."
"We also shared with the Prime Minister a copy of an agreement that we have that was signed in 2006, between the Government of Belize and the ownership group for Big Creek. That agreement was signed to quell what was an apparent dispute between PBL and Big Creek. And that agreement set out what Big Creek was allowed to ship, and what it was not allowed to ship."
"And what we sought from the Prime Minister was a clarification, an update, to have us know well, what does this agreement mean? We have sought legal advice, and the legal advice says this agreement is clear that ASR should not be able to move to Big Creek. So, if there has been a new agreement, if there has been a dissolution of this agreement, if there is a new agreement in the works, on behalf of our members, we wanted to know."
"We were not responded to, and have yet to be responded to. We were visited by the Minister of Labour and the CEO, as well as the Labour Commissioner. They categorized it as just a meet and greet, but this matter came up and was told that they would be intervening. We then went and met with the Labour Commissioner."
"And the day after that, the Labour Commissioner sent an email to PBL, describing our concerns, and the last check we made with the LC, there has been no response from PBL."
Now, the stevedores are well aware that the general public has witnessed their persistent conflicts with the management of the Port of Belize over the last 20 years. So, they have been trying to show patience in the hopes that a diplomatic solution can be found.
Here's the president making that point this afternoon:
Evan "Mose" Hyde - President, CWU
"We have had major conflict and showdowns at the Port because of it, and to be responsible, we have asked our members, and they have supported our absolute effort to resolve this in a way around a table, in dialogue and negotiation. And, so far, we have come up [with] duck eggs. We are still waiting for the Government to tell us what exactly its position is on this agreement that was signed in 2006. We're still waiting to know what PBL's position is on this agreement because it has been copied to them and shared with them. We feel that it's a fair expectation when one considers what the implications are. We are talking about the loss of revenue. We're talking, for us, loss of employment."
"We don't know why we are not being engaged. We don't know why the employer believes that the only things we can talk about are things that are in its interest and its priority, but that the issues that our high priority cannot be engaged in."
"We have made all responsible attempts to deal with this situation via dialogue, to resolve these things on behalf of our stevedores and the staff."
"For people who would say, it's stevedores again, they have to understand there is a bigger picture here. That's our view, that this isn't some kind of industrial dispute between employers and workers. We believe that this is a clash of world views. This is a clash of ideology. It's about big money, big profit, over people. And we believe that there is a coordinated effort to teach the stevedores who they view as insurgents as less. Now, that is our truth. That is what we feel. We are definitely open to being convinced otherwise. We are definitely willing to hear a counter. We are definitely willing to get new information and to improve our overall view of what we're engaged in here."
And according to the union, the new Management at the Port is holding them ransom over this issue. They insist that other Staffers of the Port, who are also CWU members, have been negotiating a collective bargaining agreement that has stalled for about 18 years.
According to the President, the Port is avoiding that topic because they want to resolve the stevedore issue first:
Evan "Mose" Hyde - President, CWU
"I assume you know that while we were able to achieve a CBA for Stevedores last year, we were never able to get a CBA for our staff, which is a sister unit at PBL, represented by CWU. That matter went to mediation and was not resolved by mediation, and we've been asking PBL management to meet with us to discuss the issues to see what we can do. As you know, that CBA is - just as in the case of the stevedores - 18-19 years in, and it's a serious disservice to our staff, and we have been diplomatically asking for that matter to be engaged in. The position of the employer is that they can only deal with one issue at a time, and because we have been engaged with them to finalize an agreement on behalf of the stevedores with secondary substitutes, their position is we have to sign that, or they will not talk about anything else."
This evening, we contacted the Port of Belize for comment, but we were told that the new CEO, Andrew Lane, was in an extended afternoon meeting. We'll keep trying to reach him.
