Marvin Mora Says the Union is Monitoring Situation at B.S.I.

Marvin Mora

And where does the N.T.U.C.B. stand on the issues of the workers and B.S.I./ASR? President Marvin Mora says that the concerns of the Belize Workers Union have been brought to the attention of the Congress so they are monitoring the situation. There has been no formal request for support, but he has an inkling that they may very well have to step in to protect the best interests of the employees. Here’s what Mora had to say when we spoke with him on Monday.

Marvin Mora, President, N.T.U.C.B.

“The brothers from that union have placed the issues that they have at the table of the Congress but they still haven’t requested support from the Congress as such other than what happens at the meetings at the Congress level. What I can tell you, though, is that we are monitoring it very closely due to the fact that we know some these things have gone to the tripartite body as well and they have been able to look at some of them, made some recommendations and these recommendations were not taken well by B.S.I.  So, that in itself is telling you about the type of mentality that we are going to have to be addressing in terms of that employer. We are hoping that they don’t want to play hardball, but if they want to play hardball, we are definitely going to have to come to the support of those unions. I don’t believe that we can allow those employees at B.S.I. to continue to be placed in a position where the employer has the upper hand all the while and it is just a situation that may, down the road, become volatile. They have to remember that these guys have their union and chances are that it can escalate to a full-fledged stand-off; that is what we are trying to avoid. The Sugar Industry for us is very important and if you notice that the B.S.I. is the only organization in Belize that is exporting sugar at this time and it gives them a lot of importance. So, we are definitely monitoring the situation.”