The CWU accuses Port of Belize of “duplicity and arrogance”

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Mar. 5, 2020– The Christian Workers Union (CWU), through a press release issued today on behalf of the stevedores and staff of the Port of Belize (PBL), stated that they would be making a shift from their current actions of protest to an official strike against the Port of Belize (PBL), and to set the stage for that, it declared a “twenty-one days’ notice of intent to strike.”

The release said that the notice of intent to strike was being made under Section 11(1) of the Settlement of Disputes in Essential Services Act, Chapter 298 of the Laws of Belize.

Yesterday, the CWU and its negotiators held a meeting with the PBL and the Minister of Labor. Following the meeting, which did not result in a final agreement, both sides told the media that “progress” had been made.

CWU president Evan “Mose” Hyde said he would meet with the stevedores to update them on what had transpired at the meeting.

The union said that in return for going back to work after their “protest” demonstration, which began on Monday, it expected a signed, written commitment from PBL on a number of agreements concerning the stevedores and PBL staff, but that nothing was received from the Port of Belize except “a query as to the purpose of the invocation of the 21 days’ notice.”

“This is the classic duplicity and arrogance that we get from PBL,” stated the union in its release.

The CWU release of today also said that they intend to not only “internationalize this threat that confronts stevedoring in Belize City, a multi-generational, majority black and grassroots-controlled enterprise,” but they are also “investigating the possibility of a judicial review of the legality of stevedores being declared essential service workers despite being employed by a private company which does not allow work to be done on holidays.”

The union says it intends to write the Prime Minister to request a copy of the privatization agreement between the Government of Belize and PBL.

“We stand in protest until a proper, signed agreement that reflects commitments made in the meeting we had on Wednesday, March 4, 2020, is sent to us by PBL,” the CWU release said.