Union walks out of talks, threatens strike
It looked like trouble on the waterfront was averted last month when the union and Ports Authority submerged their mutual mistrust and agreed to negotiate in good faith. A month later that Memorandum of Understanding appears to be meaningless and the Christian Workers Union has once again given a 21-day notice to strike. According to CWU President James McFoy the Authority has ignored the April 17th memorandum, which called on both parties to exchange proposals with a goal of negotiating a single collective agreement for all port workers by May 31st. McFoy says that instead of cooperation, the union was met with contempt.
James McFoy, President, CWU
“We went in there and instead of negotiating, we were lectured with a copy of something from the Chairlady, Kay Menzies and we told them that we are not here to be lectured to because we understood that we were suppose to start negotiating. They are saying that the union disrespected their proposal. They want us again which was the whole thing that caused the uprising and the whole thing that ended the 21 notice, that he still maintains that we were suppose to negotiate his proposal and not the union’s proposal. So what we signed, he seems to not want to agree to again, which is section 2 of the Memorandum of Understanding, which I gave to you that states clearly that both parties will submit individual proposals and then from there we move on and then we start to negotiate for one agreement. When we went in there I told them that we are not here for that. They are saying that we are disrespecting their proposal, I cannot see how because in our proposal we might have things that they don’t agree with but then let us sit down and negotiate it. So I walked out of the meeting and told them that I cannot sit down there and be lectured because we did not do anything wrong.”
We tried to get in touch with the Ports Commissioner John Watson and Chairlady Kay Menzies but were unsuccessful. However News Five did get a copy of the statement that was read to the union by Menzies. In that letter, the Belize Ports Authority says it had to postpone the May 9th meeting due to confused information received from some members. While the Board did acknowledge the fact that there is little time to resolve issues before the May 31st deadline, they added that there are two new drafts before them: one tabled by the Authority and the other by the Union. Menzies stated that after examining the Union draft, the Authority is disappointed that the CWU appears to have chosen to completely ignore the Authority’s draft and that the position the Union took last year not only remains unchanged but has actually hardened. The Port says this is totally against the spirit of cooperation and mutual respect that both parties signed to in the memorandum of understanding. Menzies says the board cannot and will not discuss two drafts and that today’s impasse could have been avoided if the union had constructively examined the Port’s draft and tabled amendments. McFoy says the union is now prepared to take whatever action is necessary and has given the Ports Commissioner another 21 days of notice of industrial action. McFoy says in the event that the parties do meet, the Union has requested that a labour officer be present. However McFoy adds that if nothing can be resolved, the notice will hold and the workers are prepared to go on strike.
