They promised no industrial action, but that's been thrown out the window, as more than three hundred workers at the Tower Hill Factory are on strike tonight.
Grinding of cane at Tower Hill came to a screeching halt this afternoon after negotiations between Belize Sugar Industries' management and the Belize Worker's Union fell through. At a meeting this morning union representatives asked BSI managers for a 4% bonus. That was shot down and instead a 1.5% bonus was offered.
The union took the 1.5% bonus proposal to their general membership this afternoon where it was rejected. 7NEWS understands that the workers then walked off the job in protest. Late this evening union President Senator Rene Gomez was called to another meeting with managers as they attempted to iron out the differences but that didn't work and this evening Gomez told us that all workers are on strike until further notice. We'll have more on this in tomorrow's newscast.