Briceño Administration Introduces Supplementary Bill for Stevedore Compensation
The injunction that has been placed on the disbursement of one point five million dollars among stevedores by the Supreme Court expires on Wednesday. It follows an application by attorneys on behalf of Port of Belize Limited which seeks to block the payment of funds to members of the Christian Workers Union. Those monies are compensation by the Government of Belize for the privatization of the port twenty years ago. While the funds were deposited in the C.W.U.’s account several weeks ago, the Briceño Administration presented a supplementary appropriations bill this morning.
John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño
“Madame Speaker, if you could allow me a few minutes just quickly to point out on this supplementary bill, it’s the one point five million dollars that was approved for the stevedores. We know for some years now, the Port of Belize which has been in an unusually prolonged receivership, has been at odds with the stevedores and the Christian Workers Union, their workers union, the union’s representatives. This standoff was recently exacerbated by the decision of A.S.R./B.S.I. to relocate the staging point for the export of sugar from the Port of Belize’s facilities to the Big Creek Port. The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Public Utilities and Logistics, responsible for ports, has been involved with the dispute resolution process and therefore I would refrain from staking out any position regarding the specific conduct of the port and the stevedores on the varying issues of contention on actions taken or not taken. Regrettably, quite apart from the impact on the port and the stevedores, these disputes cause the wider implications of shutdowns and work stoppages at the port [and] are all too obvious. Commerce is held ransom, paralysis in the imports and exports process, even for a few hours, can cause substantial commercial losses across the economy, drive up the price of goods and create scarcity of essential imports. The Supplementary Appropriations Bill which I now table for consideration is for the ex gratia payment of one point five million dollars, as agreed between the Port Authority of Belize, the Ministry of Public Utilities and Logistics and the Christian Workers Union on behalf of the stevedores in a Memorandum of Understanding signed on, 3rd, 2022.”
