Photo: Julie-Ann Ellis Bradley
BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Dec. 8, 2022
At the end of November, Alfredo Ortega, the Chairman of the Committee of Management of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA), announced a bit of good news. He shared that the Association and the miller, Belize Sugar Industries/American Sugar Refining (BSI/ASR), had finally reached agreement on a mediator to help resolve the impasse in their negotiations over the terms of a new commercial agreement between the two parties following the expiration of a previous agreement in 2021. Around this same time last year, the northern sugar industry found itself in an impasse over the same issue, and the Prime Minister intervened multiple times after a delay in the start of the sugar season that threatened to have an impact on the economy of the north, and the entire country. The efforts of the PM and other members of his administration had culminated in the acceptance by the two parties of an interim agreement which lasted until July 31, 2022 while negotiations continued. With less than two weeks to go until the expected start of the new sugar crop season on December 19, 2022, it appears all hope now rests in the hands of mediator, attorney Julie-Ann Ellis Bradley.
Mediation began on Monday, December 5 and continued Tuesday. We have been reliably informed that there has been no breakthrough in those two days, and so mediation continues on Friday, December 9.
Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Jose Abelardo Mai is hopeful that the mediation will be successful. He told the media on Monday, December 5, that he does not subscribe to the idea that “BSI has long pockets and they can wait more than the farmer…BSI is there to mill cane; BSI is there to make money. Every day that they are not working, they are not making money. Every day the farmer is not working he is not making money…So both want the crop to start.”
Today, Ellis Bradley would not provide specifics of the case, saying mediation is a confidential process and the parties must choose what information is provided publicly. She did describe a mediator as a neutral third party who facilitates a discussion between parties in dispute so that they find a mutually acceptable resolution. She added that mediators are especially trained to address deadlocks in a dispute. However, they do not hand down decisions or make recommendations.
Julie-Ann Ellis Bradley has been a mediator for over thirteen years. She was one of three mediators who were proposed by the BSCFA. BSI had proposed another mediator, but accepted Ellis Bradley as the mediator who was selected to help with their dispute.