BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 16, 2020– The situation of the workers at the Port of Belize (PBL) is at a crisis stage. On July 1, 2020, the Christian Workers Union (CWU) and its membership from both of its units began lunchtime protests against PBL’s receivership management’s decision to reduce its staff’s wages by 10 percent across the board and put a halt on their 5% bonus.

That first cut was done on June 16, 2020, and according to CWU president Evan “Mose” Hyde, Jr., it is an illegal act, since it happened without consultation with the legal bargaining agent for members of staff and went squarely against Article 25 of the 2002 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the parties.

Hyde also informed the media today that he received correspondence from the management of the Port of Belize that 36 members of the port’s staff would be terminated — 29 of those persons being members of the CWU.

Hyde commented, “There is an element of what is called ‘Shock Doctrine,’ where you are trying to take advantage of a genuine crisis and trying to opportunistically get certain things accomplished, one of which, apparently, is to rid yourself of the union presence on the compound because it’s a numbers game.

“You see, if you get rid of 29 union members, you have brought us very near to the threshold of being legitimately in place as a bargaining agent.”

So, the full-on “frontal attack,” as Hyde puts it, has been accelerated against its membership, and the Port of Belize has still not complied with the union’s request that it release documents that outline the company’s financial status to the union’s finance auditor to justify its reasons for cutting staff members’ salaries, and now for terminating staff members on the grounds of redundancy, the latter of which is slated to begin on July 22, 2020.

Hyde says that the union’s team of lawyers, which includes Anthony Sylvester, Michelle Trapp and Greg Choc, are looking at their case and providing guidance on the union’s next steps as they continue to resist this trampling on the rights of its members.