Labour Minister says tribunal is ready to work

In another continuing saga, this time on the labour front, today Minister Francis Fonseca confirmed that the arbitration panel appointed to investigate the firing of three employees of Belize Telecommunications Limited finally has its terms of reference in hand. As we have reported, the Belize Communication Workers Union had objected to the original document, complaining that it did not reflect the real nature of the dispute. Fonseca says after some back and forth, both sides are now ready to move forward with the arbitration process.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Labour
“The tribunal’s terms of reference provides that they will look at the collective bargaining agreement that exists between B.C.W.U. and B.T.L., specific articles of that collective bargaining agreement, as well as the Memorandum of Understanding that exists between those two parties. Look at those provisions with the C.B.A. to see if those documents apply to the termination of these workers, first of all, that is the first issue for them to determine. If they determine that they do apply and are relevant to the termination of the workers, to determine if there were any breaches of those provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. If they find that there were breaches, to determine the party or parties responsible for those breaches, and then finally to determine if there were breaches what remedies are available for those breaches to the parties that have been aggrieved. So that sets out the terms of reference for the tribunal. We’ve finally agreed upon that. The tribunal, as I said, is chaired by the Chief Magistrate Margaret McKenzie and they have had two meetings to discuss procedure as the law requires. The tribunal once appointed and given its terms of reference it is left to the tribunal to determine its own procedure.”

According to Minister Fonseca, the tribunal has three weeks to investigate the dispute before its members make a binding decision on the matter.