Premature Release of Sugar Industry called ambush, deceit and trickery

But prior to this morning’s meeting, the sale was running into trouble. A press release was issued to the media castigating BSI and the Board of Directors of B.S.I. Employee Holdings Ltd. for what the Belize Workers Union describes as, “tactics of ambush, deceit and trickery.”  The memo also urged all workers to abstain from voting on a secret special resolution that was set to be taken at a Special General Meeting which would have been held without the standard twenty-one days notice.  According to B.W.U. Chairman Ian Leiva, the letter was distributed before a sit-down with B.S.I.’s management could have been confirmed. After disavowing any knowledge of the release, Leiva went on to tell News Five this afternoon that the issuance of the memo was completely unauthorized.

Isani Cayetano

“There seem to have been some discrepancies or maybe a lack of communication with regards to the executive of the Belize Workers Union, more specifically the issuance of a press release this morning that was sent out to the media without your prior knowledge or consent.  Can you speak to us on what may have taken place there?”

Ian Leiva

Via Phone: Ian Leiva, Chairman, Belize Workers Union

“After we met with management we were discussing, we met and we discussed this, no one, none of us had any idea of this press release coming out this morning.  So I for one, personally, I didn’t have any idea of any press release.  Yesterday, sorry Wednesday we had a meeting [and] in that meeting we discussed that we’re going to write Mr. Montalvo asking him for a meeting for today and in case he does not reply to us by three o’clock yesterday then we would approach the media so we can relay our issues, give out our concerns.  But Mr. Montalvo got in contact with us about three-thirty and he did mention that he is willing to meet with us this morning at nine-thirty, Friday at nine-thirty. No authorization was given out for a press release stating they want workers to refrain from voting on the twenty-ninth on the resolution.  B.W.U. has no intentions of derailing or causing any problems in the negotiation between management and A.S.R. for the selling of the new share capital.  We see this as the only way out for B.S.I. at this present moment, it’s the only way out so B.S.I. can come out of the debts that it owes to ING Bank and also First Caribbean.”

All be told, the Union and B.S.I. have now agreed on the main sticking points for employees to keep their jobs and union members to be paid their dividends.