Photo: Leonora Flowers, CWU president

by Kristen Ku

BELIZE CITY, Tues. Jan. 30, 2024

In a recent interview, Leonora Flowers, president of the Christian Workers Union (CWU), highlighted the various workplace challenges that it has been addressing on behalf of its members, and provided an update on both the progress that has been made and setbacks that it has faced.

Negotiating for stevedores

In regard to ongoing negotiations to secure sugar redundancy packages for stevedores at the Port of Belize, who lost a sizable portion of their income after sugar-loading was transferred from PBL to the Big Creek port, Flowers stated, “I can confirm that we have met with the interim board. We’ve had our first negotiation meeting, and we were quite pleased with the conversation so far. They have indicated that they are going to give us a proposal, and so our team opted to wait for them to put that proposal together.”

Those talks took place in the wake of the Port of Belize’s nationalization in December 2023, and the CWU’s issuance of a demand for a $4.9-million redundancy package from the new owners, the Government of Belize (GOB) — in line with an Essential Services Arbitration Tribunal’s ruling in 2021 that instructed PBL to engage in negotiations with stevedores to arrive at such a package. “We should be getting that proposal by February 15th,” Flowers revealed this week.

Ex-gratia payment

Another critical issue is the management of the ex-gratia payment that had been given to the stevedores by the government to compensate for the difficulties they experienced as a result of privatization of the port. A chunk of those funds had been frozen as a result of a court injunction secured by the previous (private), Lord-Ashcroft-affiliated owners of the port. “Yes, the banking issues have been resolved,” Flowers confirmed. However, she highlighted the need for an audit to ensure transparency.

This audit, unfortunately, adds an extra financial burden, as Flowers explained: “That’s an expense that will have to come from that ex-gratia payment as well.”

In an appeal for governmental support, Flowers noted, “We have issued a letter to the government to say, when you purchased the port, we hope you have factored in that CWU did not cause this on itself. This was brought upon us, and we had to defend, and so we incurred a cost along the way, and we would like for you to subsidize those costs, to refund us those costs.”

Social Security Board protests

Addressing the recent protests at the Social Security Board earlier this month, Flowers discussed the union’s efforts to resolve allegations of preferential treatment and potential union-busting. The protests had been carried out by Social Security inspectors who alleged that one inspector who was not a member of the union had been exempted from the rotation (transfers to other locations) that is periodically done among all of the board’s inspectors.

“Since January 2nd we were to go to conciliation. We had a discussion with the Labour Commission, and I think they [SSB] went as well; and then we were told to write to the board. We did that, and I can report happily today that we have met with the board,” she stated.

“We met with them on Thursday last, and it was a very good discussion. And so, I will say no more. We rested with the board. So, this is a new week, and we’re anticipating our response this week,” explained Flowers.

The CWU is seeking a policy-based resolution, emphasizing the importance of fair treatment in the workplace. 

Collective Bargaining Agreements

The CWU is also focused on the signing of CBAs with both the Belize City Council and the Belmopan City Council, especially with the CitCo elections approaching.

These agreements, which have been pending for over three years, are crucial to ensuring that the rights and benefits of the union members are upheld.

The CWU is actively urging both councils to finalize these agreements before the dissolution of the councils on February 6, which would result in further delays in addressing the needs of their members.

“There’s just a small window, a short window for us to get those CBAs in. Our members’- in both places – CBAs have expired. And so, we would hope that the councils give us due redress and get those CBAs in before they close shop and put off our members again for another term,” Flowers said.