Today we asked the Labour Minister about the complaints from the Christian Workers Union that the Port of Belize has still not implemented the decisions made by the Essential Services Arbitration Tribunal.
As viewers are aware, there are multiple disputes between the Port of Belize; their employees, the Stevedores, and the Christian Workers Union, the bargaining agent for the Stevedores. Currently, there are several issues that brought them to an impasse, where the Ministry of Labour had to step. Then, the Port is suing the CWU and several named Stevedores for the most recent strike by waterfront workers, which PBL insists was illegal. That's the claim in which they say that the stevedores caused them to lose a little over 1 million dollars in business due to loss of productivity. And finally, the PBL has gotten an interim injunction against the Union and its agents from making any further disbursals of those 1.5 million dollars which the government handed over as an ex gratia payment.
Well, in our conversations with the leadership of the CWU, they expressed frustration that the Port has not adhered to the ruling of the Essential Services Arbitration Tribunal.
You'll remember that the tribunal decided that:
1. The Port of Belize Limited is directed to forthwith confirm the primary stevedores as Registered Stevedores;
2. The Port of Belize Limited is directed to promote the 28 Secondary Substitutes to Primary Substitutes and invite them to participate in Port of Belize Limited's insurance scheme from the 27th January 2022. Further, the Port of Belize Limited is directed to pay their share of contributions to the retirement savings for the 28 stevedores from the 13 July 2021 being the date when the dispute was brought to the attention of the Minister.
And, the third finding is that the parties must begin negotiations forthwith for payment under the Redundancy Package as agreed between the parties on March 6, 2020.
We asked the Minister about that alleged delay in compliance, and here's what he had to say:
Hon. Oscar Requena - Minister of Rural Transformation, Community Development, Local Government & Labour
"The essential services tribunal has made it's ruling. Unfortunately there has been in a delay in getting the written ruling because the chairman of the tribunal unfortunately fell ill and that is what causes some delays but written report is coming soon and we expect that the Port of Belize is going to adhere to the ruling."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir now you're presiding over a dispute that has going to almost 2 decades now where it doesn't it seem like the many riff and hurt feelings and history of contention between these two sides, it doesn't seem to be diminishing, it actually seems to be increasing. You have now where the representatives of the CWU and the negotiating team from the stevedores being sued by their employer and they take to be the biggest disrespect so far."
Hon. Oscar Requena
"Well I will say to you that is a matter solely for the Port of Belize and the CWU to deal with because our part in terms of the mediation as the Ministry of Labour, we have done our part and the tribunal has rules, we expect that the ruling is going to be adhered to but I want to say to you, I want to go on record indeed, the relationship between the Port of Belize and the CWU has been very contentious for many, many years but I want to go on record to say under our administration, we have been able to bring the parties together to sit together for the first time there is a collective bargaining agreement that was done in less than one year, they were negotiating for over 18 years and they could not achieve what we achieved in less than one year."
As you heard, the Minister noted that back in 2020, his Ministry was able to help the two sides negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, something that the previous government did not. Well, while the Minister noted that as a major milestone, the CWU president had a different view. Here are those comments from a few days ago:
Evan "Mose" Hyde - President, CWU
"We thought by signing the CBA in August of 2020, would usher in some kind of stability, unbeknownst to us, almost at the same time, our financial realities were being amputated."
