For the past few days we've been telling you about the dispute between the stevedores and the Port of Belize. Things somewhat normalized on Saturday when the waterfront workers went back to the pierhead and started offloading cargo vessels. They even offloaded the MV Aries which had been anchored in Belizean waters for almost a week.
But, the stevedores differences with the Port of Belize remains unsettled and they are substantial. Centrally, the Christian Workers Union is appealing to government to enforce the Essential Services Tribunal's order against the Port.
Today we got to hear from the Leader of the Opposition - who has consistently been - shall we say - "sympathetic" to the Ashcroft Alliance, which owns the port. But, stevedores - as some of the top earners on the Southside form the bulwark of the UDP's support in its core constituencies. And today, Barrow sided with them:
Shyne Barrow, Leader Of The Opposition
"In that regard certainly the party position is that we fully support the stevedores as a matter of historic principle, uh, the labourers, the makeup, the driving engines of our society and we believe in every instance we need to be as favourable and as considerate of them as possible. In this instance what I hear the stevedores, uh, the president of the CWU asking for is merely for there to be enforcement of the tribunal decision, I don't think that is unreasonable, I think that is necessary and the opposition urges the government, the minister of labour umm to act swiftly, for the Prime Minister to act swiftly to ensure that this is being done. I understand that there was some engagement on Friday on a ministerial level, today is Wednesday, um that has not borne, any fruits from what I understand and it is the opposition's position that that should be escalated forthwith. The stevedores are not asking for any favours in any particular instance, they are merely asking that the process be respected. There was a procedure, they underwent the procedure, and the tribunal made a decision and that needs to be enforced immediately, they deserve whatever decision the tribunal made, they deserve for that to happen immediately."
We'll have more from Barrow's press briefing later on in the news.
