Stevedores protest over working conditions at Port
The Port of Belize employs more than two hundred stevedores to load and unload ships arriving and leaving our shores. But this morning instead, a small group lifted placards as they picketed the Labour Department’s office on Albert Street West. Flanked by the General Secretary of the Christian Workers’ Union (C.W.U.), James McFoy and Union President, Antonio Gonzalez, the stevedores protested claiming that their requests for swift action from the Department appear to have fallen on deaf ears for quite a while. However, the Union’s main gripe with Port of Belize is that the company has been making single-handed decisions regarding workers and working conditions in direct violation of a collective bargaining agreement. This agreement, according to the union, remains valid until a new one is signed. But while the C.W.U. made its position clear, the Port of Belize has its own take and their Chief Executive Officer, Raineldo Guerrero told News Five that there is no valid collective bargaining agreement and that they, like the union, are willing to sit and negotiate. Here are both sides.
James McFoy, Gen. Sec., C.W.U.
“One of the problems is that they do not respect the Collective Agreement that we have. They are saying that that agreement is null and void and so they do not intend to honour that agreement. As a matter of fact they changed a lot of things in that agreement, in particular the components of the stevedore gangs. They take who they want on and left all who they want, employ who they want, disregarding the union, just talking to the gang members, the stevedores. We as the union, it seems that we have no role to play.”
Raineldo Guerrero, C.E.O., Port of Belize
“We have a Memorandum of Understanding, which sets out a framework to reach towards a Collective Agreement. But to date we do not have a Collective Agreement. They are basing what they refer to as a Collective Agreement with an agreement they had previously with the Belize Waterfront Employers Association. And one of the conditions on which we took over at the time was that we would be hiring these people as temporary employees of the Port and that the Belize Waterfront Employees Association no longer exists in terms of handling of stevedores.”
Antonio Gonzalez, President, C.W.U.
“And as a result of they not going by that Collective Agreement, they implement new terms and conditions of employment, they change the formation of gangs, they elect whichever people they want into the gangs, while the agreement doesn’t say that. The union has a role in the replacement of stevedores with any gang.”
Raineldo Guerrero
“Right now we are prepared to enter into negotiations and to deal with the stevedore issue as soon as the union says we want to.”
Marion Ali
“But they are saying the same thing. They want to negotiate and they are prepared to sit down tomorrow.”
Raineldo Guerrero
“Well then we are talking the same language. The difference—and in the letter that I just wrote them is that they are saying they want to do staff first and we have been saying let’s do stevedores first.”
Marion Ali
“Why are you not willing to do the staff and the stevedores at the same time?”
Raineldo Guerrero
“Because you can’t, they are two different agreements. They are two different agreements and the wages that stevedores make is a very high, high wage as compared to what staff makes. So they are two different things. So we prefer to keep them separate. In the olden days the union used to run things. The union use to decide, use to employ. When we took over, we took over that role. They are employees of the Port and the Port sets policy, the Port sets direction, the Port makes decisions, the Port decides who goes where.”
Marion Ali
“That’s one of the problems that have too.”
Raineldo Guerrero
“But the union doesn’t employ these people so the union cannot say well you will be this and you will be that. If the union wants to do that then they must pay the salary. But management reserves the right to decide who goes where. We hire them when there is a vessel. They get paid to time, but what is happening is that they want to bring in more people into the container gangs. That is where we the Port is saying let us reach an agreement, let us make a decision then we can make whatever changes to what exists. But we are not prepared to accept any changes without having negotiated an agreement.”
