BELIZE CITY, Mon. July 13, 2020– Recently, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) was criticized by the president of the Christian Workers Union (CWU) for the NTUCB’s apparent lack of support of the efforts of the CWU to address the plight of the workers at the Port of Belize, who are facing a possible cut in their salaries.

The workers at the Port are protesting the scheduled 10% salary cut by the Port of Belize which is being proposed as part of the Port’s austerity measures.

Marvin Mora, president of the NTUCB, when interviewed, said that they have always been in support of their sister union, adding that the executive of the NTUCB has received documents sent by the CWU in which the CWU outlines the reasons for its industrial action.

Mora said that the NTUCB executive met last Friday to review the documents and are currently still reviewing the documents. The umbrella union is scheduled to have another meeting this Saturday to finalize a position.

Mora says that while the NTUCB has always been in moral support of the CWU, a show of physical support would be a decision made by the union collectively.

Mora said that the NTUCB knows that the cause of the CWU is right, and encouraged the membership of the CWU to unite in support of the workers at the Port. He commented that, “the power of the union is not in their leadership; the leadership could do all that it wants, but without the support of the membership, their cause is lost from the beginning.”

The Christian Workers Union is demanding that the management at the Port of Belize justify its decision to reduce the salaries of the workers by disclosing its financial records. The union believes that the financial standing of the Port of Belize must be known so that they can determine whether a cut in the salaries of the workers is indeed necessary. President of the CWU, Evan “Mose” Hyde, said that the Port of Belize continues to ignore the demands of its workers, and as previously reported on Wednesday, a notice of strike was given to the Port’s management.

Prior to this notice, workers had been gathering during lunch breaks and a go-slow was initiated this Wednesday. Hyde said that a 10% salary cut will be significant to the employees, who are already facing hard times, and commented, “when your financial stability is going to be taken away, you want to know that it has been done justifiably, and you want to know that the entity that you are working for has the respect to be transparent when you ask for that transparency.”