BEC's cargo ship, The Aries and its 200 or so containers still have not been cleared tonight and the standoff between the Port of Belize and the Christian Workers Union's stevedores continues.
But the CWU looked ready to blink yesterday when it proposed to go back to the one ship - two gang operation - with certain other conditions to be met by the Port of Belize.
The Port counter proposed - and the Ministry of Labor finally got involved as mediator. That sure looked encouraging this morning when both sides were called to meet. But, reports say, the Port told the Labour office that it only had half an hour to meet - and that was that, no breakthrough.
And then this afternoon the Port put out a deliberately misleading press release saying, quote, "The CWU instructed our stevedores not to attend work and have been absent now for the last three 15-hour shifts. This has caused the MV Aries to now depart the Port of Belize. This has consequently caused financial damage to all stakeholders including the domestic consumers of Belize."
It's a narrative attempt to create a scapegoat, but it's completely untrue. The Aries hasn't gone anywhere. We checked 45 minutes ago, and it's still docked right there at the pier-head - same place it has been since Wednesday. The Shipping Association which handles pilotage for these vessels confirms that it has not moved, neither have they gotten a call for a pilot.
So, the CWU issued a release today saying, "The Christian Workers Union (CWU) emphatically denies mistruths contained in the press release put out by the Port of Belize Ltd (PBL) today, framing its own intransigence as the CWU taking a hardline." End quote.
And this afternoon CWU President Mose Hyde spoke to the press just as he was entering another round of talks with the Ministry of Labour - again, without the PBL at the other side of the table. He expressed optimism nonetheless:
Mose Hyde, President, CWU
"We put forward a proposal to solve a contention. The Port countered. This happened after midday yesterday, so I would say late in the evening and then later on in the night we are countered by PBL. We had already gotten an invite from the ministry of labour, the labour commissioner to come this morning to meet. This morning is our first real coming together officially with the involvement of the ministry of labour. Out of that we had a vote on the counter proposal coming from PBL, from our members. They turned that down and then we returned here to re-engage with port and the ministry of labour. What has happened is that port has ask for some time. So we are going to be on standby waiting to hear when we are going to get together again and see if we can....essentially, we have a particular part of the proposals that we are far apart and the only way you close these gaps in my experience is by getting around a table and really grinding through them, so we are on this side, really eager to get around a table. We don't care if it's in the middle of the night, we don't care if it's on Sunday, we are here to get that business done, because it's important for us to move on from this."
"What we want to do is to negotiate with PBL. We want to be around a table with them with mutual commitment to a solution. That's what we want. I think to some extent, our exchange of proposals yesterday is a healthy thing, even though we know that our members we are apart on the most consequential part of that. Still the process of proposing and counter proposing - that's how you find a solution, so let is build on that. We want to build on that and again repeat to Belize, to the clients, everybody - we want to sit down and we are not watching the clock, we are not watching the calendar. Our team is ready to do the work now."
"History has shown, ministry of labour being present, really makes a difference. When you put CWU, stevedore negotiating team in a room with just PBL management reps., is always very contentious. We dont get a lot of momentum. You have the full tripartite spirit working - we have found success. So, they're in and that what is important to us right now. Obviously, what we would have preferred would have been for the ship to be worked, to mitigate the impact on the client. Just have our gang work and it would buy us more time. You really would be ticking certain boxes. We both share a concern about the client. Let's deal with that and then we have a couple days before the return, we have this space to see if we can find a middle ground with this dispute that we are having."
The CWU press release from this evening says, quote, "PBL squandered today's opportunity for an amicable resolution. Their disingenuous press release notwithstanding, CWU has indicated its readiness to meaningfully engage with PBL to settle our differences." We'll keep following the story, as the ship remains in port, which means there's still a possibility for a compromise.
