Photo: CWU officials and members of stevedores negotiating team confer with their attorney after June 28, 2023 meeting of the ESAT in Belize City

(ESAT) Essential Services Arbitration Tribunal rules against (PBL) Port of Belize Ltd.’s jurisdiction challenge

BELIZE CITY, Tues. Sept. 12, 2023

The last time we reported on the stevedore-related proceedings before the Essential Services Arbitration Tribunal (ESAT) chaired by attorney William A. Lindo, the parties were waiting on the outcome of a preliminary issue regarding the Tribunal’s jurisdiction to decide the substantive matter. The ruling has since come down and it represents a tiny victory for stevedores. The challenge to the Tribunal’s jurisdiction was brought by Port of Belize Ltd. (PBL) after the Tribunal was reconvened and held a first meeting on June 28, 2023. The substantive matter is for the Tribunal to provide an interpretation of its order made in January 2022 that the Christian Workers Union (CWU) on behalf of stevedores and their employer, PBL should engage in negotiations to determine a redundancy payment for bulk sugar having gone south in July 2021.

We only became aware of the challenge to the Tribunal’s jurisdiction at the end of August. Fast forward to Tuesday, September 12th and the decision of the Tribunal had already been handed down. PBL argued that the substantive matter should be taken before the court, but attorney for the stevedores, Darrell Bradley told Amandala that the legislation which governs the ESAT “is an all-encompassing legislation that provides that all trade disputes should be settled and should go before the ESAT.”

Now that the Tribunal has established that it has jurisdiction to hear the case, Bradley says the matter will proceed to a full hearing and both parties are required to make submissions this month. He considers that the timelines for submissions given by the ESAT are short. The jurisdiction challenge extended the proceedings but Bradley now says he expects a full resolution of the substantive issue by the end of October. He remarked that the previous order of the Tribunal was handed down now almost 20 months ago. Commenting on that extended time, Bradley says there should be a spirit of compliance: “If there is a ruling that’s made, the ruling should be complied with.” According to Bradley, the Tribunal is moving quickly in terms of addressing the trade dispute which surrounds the claim by CWU that PBL has not wanted to come to the table to have meaningful discussions about a payment to stevedores.

In the meantime, a couple stevedores have called in to morning talk shows in the last few weeks threatening to “shut it down” if the issue is not resolved by a certain time. They expressed frustration among the stevedore members of the CWU especially given that two years have passed since sugar went south.

Asked whether there can be a strike while the ESAT process is ongoing, Bradley told Amandala “what the law says is that if there is a process, then the process is to go before the Tribunal. And what that does is that that acts as a limitation on persons going to strike. It’s the Settlement of Disputes in Essential Services Act. So if you are before the Tribunal, then you can’t go on strike. You are required to give a 21-day notice. And within that period of time you can’t go on strike. It prevents you. That’s the purpose of the legislation, and so this whole process has to finish before there is any talk of any strike action.”