Energy Workers Union not satisfied with tribunal ruling
Two weeks ago the Belize Energy Workers Union, publicly protested the Belize Electricity Limited’s refusal to acknowledge their claim that the company owed them money for their years of service. They said that since the government was selling its majority shares they wanted to be fired, compensated for their service and then rehired, the way the top-level managers had been. B.E.L. said there was no legal basis for the claim and they could not afford the six million dollars it would take to meet the demand. By mutual agreement, the matter was referred to a tribunal. Their ruling was to be final but when the tribunal sided with management, union leaders went to Belmopan on Monday to see the Prime Minister.
Q: “The tribunal’s ruling was final, you received that and it had been ruled against you. Why did you find it necessary to still go to Belmopan?”
Ashley Rocke, Councilor to Union
“I don’t think that any door is closed. Not because they said it was not a valid claim. I am of the perception that when one door is closed, another one must/could be open and the tribunal is not the Government of Belize. They might have been called by the Government of Belize but they are not the Government of Belize. We don’t feel that they were the final authority; we feel that even the Minister himself that called them had the final authority. So what is more apt than to go right to the helm where you know the ones who put the tribunal together; why not go back to them?
It seems as if though the tribunal, to me, was a joke because even though they made their ruling, what we’ll be doing is to see how we can best satisfy the cause of the employee. And what we were saying to the tribunal all along was if you cannot see that payment for years of service is a valid thing, then pay us off through a pension plan.”
Q: “What is the morale of the employees in the union now that their claim has been denied, going into this meeting?”
Ashley Rocke
“It’s been quasi. Here, there… that’s the kind of morale that’s right here right now. And there are still people who, if their reins are not held, still want to proceed with a strike but we’re going to do our best as executives to maintain along with the workers the necessity of sticking to the law. If the law said it, let’s stick to the law. We don’t want to do anything illegal; we don’t want to put anybody in trouble.”
Q: “When does this end?”
Ashley Rocke
“We hope it will end today. The tribunal asked us to start the process and end it by March, 2000. But we hope that the whole bickering back and forth will end today when some concrete facts could be placed on a piece of paper or agreed upon mutually in a written form because nothing just mentioned out of the mouth right now will be accepted. It has to be black and white. And once that is done, once we can come to that conclusion, then that will start us toward a more healthy future.”
The Union says they are hoping B.E.L. management will agreed to a pension plan that takes into account an employee’s years of service. If this is not agreed to, Rocke says the union would consider issuing another strike notice although they would prefer not to go this route. The meeting this evening with B.E.L. management is being chaired by Labour Minister, Jose Coye.
