Strike is on at sugar factory

The sugar factory at Tower Hill is shut down tonight as representatives of the Belize Worker’s Union and Belize Sugar Industries Ltd. have failed to come to an agreement on a new contract. In a meeting held this morning, B.S.I. responded to the B.W.U.’s proposal for a four percent one time bonus for all workers with a counter offer based on the company’s profitability. According to B.S.I. officials, if the company made its projected half million dollars in profit, the workers would receive a one point five percent bonus. If profits reached nine hundred thousand, the bonus would go to two percent of annual salary, with the award pro-rated for any amount in between five hundred and nine hundred thousand.

By this afternoon, however, the union had rejected the offer and countered with a three percent bonus regardless of the company’s profits. The B.W.U. demonstrated for an immediate response to its proposal and its members remained off the job, awaiting a reply. But that response was not forthcoming as B.S.I. said it could not react unless the workers returned to the job. The standoff was still in effect at news time as the factory remained idle with a de facto strike in progress. A little over one hundred thousand tons of cane–less than ten percent of the crop–remains to be processed at Tower Hill, with the season scheduled to last only three more weeks.