And switching gears now, things are heating back up at the Port of Belize and while it was relatively peaceful this morning, the stevedores were ready to head to war.
That's because in a historic move, the Belize Defence Force was called in to pick up the slack at PBL and unload the sugar ships. It's the government basically saying that this is an essential service and the state had to intervene to keep it running.
But the Christian Workers Union were not happy and the stevedores waited like vultures outside the port, eyes peeled, to see whether the sugar would be unloading so that they could pick up their swords and march into battle. Up to this afternoon, the BDF hadn't started, but we caught up with the president of the CWU who said that PBL was just adding fuel to an already raging fire.
Evan "Mose" Hyde, President, CWU
"Well obviously a lot of what is involved is standing by and looking to see what happens now, we have gone on the record to the state to say this is not how this is to be played out. BDF soldiers are not to be placed on the pier head to do the work of stevedores, we have put that on the record, that is not only outrageous but that is a serious provocation because what you are saying to these guys is, well guess what, you have your gripe, you have your issues well we don't want to hear that, if you don't work the state is going to do it on behalf of the private entity? Nah man, it can't work like that, it cannot work like that."
"What was said to us yesterday, in our meeting with the Port, they said tell us what your men will do because we cannot do anything for them, their issues, we're not going to talk sugar, we're not going to conceded to the recommendations of the general foremen so that is our position and they said tell us by 5 o' clock what your men are going to do and based on that if they're not going to work, then we're going to send the ship away so our members understood that they would be losing earnings to take the stand that they took yesterday, the was the position of the port. Now when you decide that you're going to lean on the state and the state is going to facilitate that to essentially break the position of the union and the position of our members then you've left us now in a position where you are begging for open conflict, that's what you're begging for at this point in time."
And of course, the stevedores vented their frustration. They lamented that this hadn't happened when the caneros were stalling the opening of La Zafra, and that the BDF should stick to their own job.
Guy Neal, Stevedore
"They're not as yet doing our job, we won't allow that to happen, we spoke to Mr Williams this morning and we spoke to one of Kareem's advisors. Whenever we see any container move, we're going in there. That is not if, but or maybe. This is my job, I have a little business, but this is the big part of my income and the thing of it is we have to make way for the younger stevedores."
"We're supposed to do the work, because as the president said, by right the state is not supposed to come in and do the stevedores' work, that is not in the agreement. That is not in the agreement, so we will do our work, I've been doing my job 40 years you know, I didn't just come here. I'm a fourth generation stevedore and I will stand up for my right. I am not a violent person but if that's the way it has to go, that's the way it has to go."
Courtney Menzies:
"So if you see containers start moving and you go in there, what's the plan, what will you do?"
Guy Neal, Stevedore
"We are going on the ship and we will stop the work."
Jermaine Arnold, Stevedore
"They're not supposed to be doing that, this supposed to be a together thing because if you or anybody else like when the cane farmers were fighting for their job, nobody tried to go thre and do their thing, we're supposed to be supporting one another, we aren't supposed to be going against one another and by trying to do something like that, that's showing that you could say, I will put it this way, like the government isn't with us you could say because the BDF is for the government so you're not supposed to do that."
"This isn't a matter of losing out, they will have to compensate us if they touch anything there because they don't have any agreement to work any ship, they are not stevedores, likewise we are not police of BDF to do their work."
Courtney Menzies:
"So how frustrated are you guys today?"
Jermaine Arnold, Stevedore
"We don't want go to that, I really don't want to voice that opinion because it won't sound nice."
As we told you yesterday, this matter began late last year when the sugar ships sailed south to Big Creek, forcing the stevedores to lose tens of thousands of dollars in earnings - which they believe they should be compensated for. Additionally, the rejection by PBL of two substitute general foremen that the union put forward acted as a springboard to launch the CWU into action. We will continue to follow the developments.
