When we asked Fred Ortega about the impasse and the latest resolution attempts, he claimed that the millers are frustrating the process of identifying a suitable mediator. Here are those comments:
Alfredo Ortega - Chairman, BSCFA Orange Walk Branch
"The net share value that has been use for many years we want to change that as a gross revenue and we have put to the table a 60/40 on which we are saying come to the table lets us negotiate, but that is the thing that BSI don't want to do this. They said before that they accept the 60/40 but in their terms. They don't want to change anything, they want us to accept what they are bringing to the table. We are not fools. We understand very clear. We know what the farmers need and that is why we are calling them to the table to come and negotiate."
"We have reached this point. We have a mediator and still yet BSI is playing jokes on not coming to the table so that we can get into an agreement who will be our mediator so that we can continue and if that doesn't happen then we believe that the government, even though the prime minister have said many times that this is a private entity. But I think as a government they have a responsibility to see that an industry as the size of the sugarcane in the north, the amount of people that depends on the sugar industry, the government has to see that something is stabilize within the industry. The farmers are prepared just as how you see the farmers were prepared to come and help here to give a helping hand in cleaning the city - that's the same way the farmers are prepared to do what they have to do, because the farmers know the expense they have to do to produce a ton of cane."
