And from sin tax to severance, Labour Minister Musa recently received letters from the Belize Energy Workers for Justice movement and from the National Trade Union Congress of Belize on the severance issues between the energy workers and BEL.
At the end of March the labor department also wrote to the minister detailing their responsibility and a duty to go in and check records at BEL to assist the BEWJ in verifying their severance status.
In an interview with Musa today he gave us more details on why he supports the Labor department's request to assist the BEWJ in getting their severance.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Labour
"Whenever there is a dispute between employer and employee in this particular case, BEL and the workers union, the Labor Department has review authority, to review the particulars of the case. That is what is currently taking place at the moment. Thereafter if it is that the employer, and from the sounds of it the employer wants to go further with legal action we just went through an entire CCJ case on similar facts and so I would want to see the difference in the 2 cases because I am not convinced of the difference of that. From what I am observing but BEL is saying that they are not on all fours and so they want to challenge it and take it to the CCJ. You heard a very passionate plea today, an emotional plea from one of the workers. I think we have to have a heart sometimes, we have to consider that these workers out here are saying they were not paid severance. It is either a yes or a no that they were paid severance, some cases do not have to go to the CCJ that is going to take years and Ms Staine cannot go through a CCJ, go through the high court then the court of appeal then the CCJ.Sso I am imploring on them as the Minister of Labor let us look at it to see how it is we can accommodate because from what they are saying they were not paid their severance."
