At today's UDP Press conference, party leader Patrick Faber also discussed the plight of the stevedores.
He said that as the area representative of Collet, he can sympathize with the stevedores, who the government must not leave out in the cold:
Hon. Patrick Faber - Leader, United Democratic Party
"While it is that we have looked at the situation and like those in the industry - the sugar industry - have determined that in fact, this might be a good move for the cane farmers and for the ASR folks, the truth of the matter is such a transfer of the bulk sugar to the other port leaves a lot to be desired for the stevedores here in Belize City. And so, as a Southside representative, and the Hon. Tracy Taegar Panton, of course, and others. What is it Tracy? 4 of our 5 members in the National Assembly hail from the Southside of Belize City, where these stevedores come from. And so, we have to be sympathetic to the needs of these stevedores in that, bread is now being taken out of their mouths. But, the issue is much larger than that. The issue of the entire industry benefitting from the move needs to be looked at. But also, the government, while they will try to say - and they've tried to say that this is not something that they're involved with directly at all. They have an obligation. The Briceno Administration, the Blu Plan Belize, if you will, remember, came in to ensure that people have jobs. They promised people jobs, and the Briceno Administration, to me, certainly should have had shown more concern, and it's not too late. It's not too late to sit down and dialog with those stevedores to offer opportunities so that they can re-train, or they can be supported in the interim while something else is done."
