It's been two weeks since the Novelo owned National Transport Bus Company took over operations of the Belize Bus Owners Cooperative. It was a hostile take over and the remaining members of the Co-op say they will take their fight to the Supreme Court but today they took it to the streets. 7NEWS was there and Keith Swift has the story.
Keith Swift Reporting
Their protest began this morning in front of the Minister of Transport Joe Coye's divisional office on Baymen Avenue. The group of about 30 members of the bus owners cooperative and some family members circled the office, which was closed, for the better part of two hours. There were no chants and no cries but the placards said it all. Isabel Chan is Chairman of the Cooperative.
Isabel Chan, Chairman - BBOCSL
"We want to call the attention to the Minister that we want our permits back, our runs noh. That is why and its been almost two weeks and we are not doing anything and we have families to feed and school will soon open. We need a lot of things to buy. So that is why we want the Minister to know that we need to go back and run."
And these bus drivers say they are fighting for more than just a job. For these men it is a livelihood.
Martin Segura, Bus Owner
"Why we, not me, we are out here because we need to live and so far it looks like Mr. Coye and Glenn Tillet want to give National everything again like how they had it before when it was Novelo's and no way no how that could work with us who need to have a job because for instance they don't want to hire most of the old drivers who are out here right now who used to work in the receivership days. That is why we formed a cooperative and we want our runs back."
Anselm Talbert, Bus Owner
"I am out here because I am out of a job and I need a job. I have a family to feed and we are trying to get back our runs."
Keith Swift,
Mr. Novelo says you are just a small faction of people who are upset.
Isabel Chan,
"Well this is the group recognized by the Department of Cooperatives. This is the group."
Keith Swift,
Do you think is a fight you guys can win?
Isabel Chan,
"Well I don't know. Although we have this case, I think today they will file in the Supreme Court an injunction and we are trying many ways to try to fight it."
And one of those many ways was this afternoon at the Memorial Park where they
parked their buses. The buses are parked because these drivers don't have any runs.
Isabel Chan,
"The reason to be here is to show the public that we have buses but the buses that Novelo is claiming that he pulled, those are his buses but these buses that you see here, it is for the members because this is Belize Bus Owners Cooperative so each member owns one of these buses."
Keith Swift,
Are you guys able to do those runs?
Isabel Chan,
"We were supplying all those runs."
Martin Segura,
"We will start run without authorization sooner or later and this is our schedule which we were maintaining daily. And if we can't start running our schedule, we will start to run on the road without the authorization because we have a permit. So starting next week if they can't give us an answer, we will start doing what we have to do to get our money to pay back for that money which we borrowed to buy buses and feed everybody who needs to eat. I have a family of two, okay."
There are about 30 members left in the Co-op. They say they plan to apply for an injunction in the Supreme Court barring National Transport from running on the cooperative's runs. The Ministry of Transport maintains that the cooperative is saddled with debt and has to prove that it is a viable operation.
