Labor Minister Says Tribunal Ruling is Clear

Oscar Requeña

While he, too, is subject to the muzzling, the Minister of Labor says that proposals have been presented by the C.W.U.  Those suggestions will be reviewed by Port of Belize and a schedule has been established for P.B.L.’s response.

Oscar Requeña, Minister of Labor

“I am bound by the agreement that both sides made this morning, in terms of how far I can comment, suffice to say that the CWU presented its proposal again and the PBL has agreed that they are going to be looking at the proposal.  A timeline has been set in terms of PBL’s response and in the interim, the discussions continue.”

Reporter

“How do you look, though, at PBL as a corporate citizen?  They have not appealed the ruling of the tribunal and if I understood correctly what one attorney was saying, that the time for appeal has passed.”

Oscar Requeña

“Well, let me say this, I would not want to comment too much in terms of the legal issues, but what I can say is that the ruling of the Essential Services Tribunal was very clear that both sides must come to the table and engage in negotiations and I am going to stick at that.”