Impasse in Separation Package Negotiation for Stevedores

In their response to the recommendations for the filling of the six vacancies, P.B.L. sent a letter accepting those for the two general foremen and the substitutes. They denied the recommendations for crane operators, namely Raymond Rivers and Sean Middleton. This morning’s sit-out took place in the midst of an already tense and strained relationship between the Port of Belize Limited and stevedores. While it has not made the news, negotiations between both parties on the separation package for sugar has once again reached an impasse.

Evan “Mose” Hyde

Evan “Mose” Hyde, President, Christian Workers Union

“Our members voted on November twenty fourth unanimously for industrial action. Our response to that, at the time, considering that we had December, is to say hey, we immediately got in contact with the Prime Minister’s office. We said we need to update you; our members have reached a point where the negotiations have hit an impasse and they have said, well industrial action it is. We met with the Prime Minister, he then met with Port, and then the Prime Minister met with our team, and said well they are not budging, and essentially there is nothing I can do, and so we came back to our members with that position. We have been in that holding pattern since then. So, our position of writing this letter was simply just, we met with our General Foremen, they instruct us, and so this is a position they brought to us, we put it to you, and then your position is first to ignore it, and then on top  of that the matter flared up, as we knew it would. If you understand the emotions, I mean, we are constantly getting our members asking us, when we are going to do something. They are of the view right now, if you don’t make noise, you don’t get heard, nobody studies your situation, and everybody feels like you are good. So, when they saw how matters kind of resolved up North, they were like well, draw for the fire.”