It's a labor crisis, an ugly dispute, and a growing public outrage...and yesterday the office of the prime minister appointed omni-negotiator Assad Shoman as the chief government representative in the ongoing dispute between the Ports of Belize Limited and the Waterfront workers who are represented by the Christian Workers Union. Following that appointment there was a meeting this afternoon between the union leadership and the Ports owner Luke Espat mediated by Minister Shoman. Both sides talked and agreed to further discussions. But they can dialogue all they want, for the Waterfront workers, it's real in the field and today they continued to mount public pressure. For the fourth time in 8 days the stevedores mounted a picket against the Port of Belize and we again spoke to them and they say that it will not end here.
Stevedore,
“The President told us to stay on top of things and keep on picketing because we know that we have the right out here and the right from Mr. Luke Espat to go negotiate.”
Stevedore,
“We want everybody to know the pressure we are under because this thing will blow. For real it will blow up.”
Stevedore,
“Everybody is talking about the wages. Everyone is talking about too much time or whatever but nobody is talking about how dangerous this job is. This is one of the most dangerous jobs in Belize, stevedoring. Sometimes we go out there and suddenly the crane is breaking down or suddenly man have to jump to water. We are out there sometimes in rain. Sometimes we work whole night in rain which few men would do but this is our job and even for the danger of the job Mr. Luke Espat supposed to know that these people are supposed to get the right pay and adequate workforce out here. See the union has an agreement where adequate workforce is provided but even with this 15 men thing that we do a lot of stevedores get hurt because you have positions that sometimes we personally, I am a crane driver, and sometimes we cannot see the person that’s giving sign to you with 15 men much less 10 men.”
Alfonso Noble,
So you are saying a gang of 15 men out there is not enough?
Stevedore,
“Well to me I wouldn’t reduce the gang to 10 men with the danger. We could tolerate here but with 10 men you know somebody would definitely get kill out here.”
Alfonso Noble,
But people say when you are out there, half the time or more than half the time only a few are working and the rest are sleeping. They have video of some of you all sleeping.
Stevedore,
“They can’t bring up that video.”
Stevedore,
“I just done work and 15 of us were working just now. The idea he wants is to bring dictatorship to Belize and our ancestors fought for us to have a union and he doesn’t appreciate that he’ll have a union to deal with. You think the shipping agent would pay us if we weren’t working.”
Alfonso Noble,
Well they have to pay the union, that’s the bargaining thing. Because you are represented by the union all of you have to get paid and that’s the whole crux of this matter.
Stevedore,
“Well it is not so. When we are out there we are working and work hard to make sure those ships sail out in time. We just finished working.”
The stevedores and the union leadership say that even with ongoing negotiations they'll keep up the pressure in the form of picketing until a final resolution is arrived at.