Is Ministry of Labor Ineffective in C.W.U./P.B.L. Negotiations?

Evan ‘Mose’ Hyde

According to Hyde, the C.W.U. is of the impression that the Port of Belize seems to believe that government is powerless in bringing pressure to bear on P.B.L. to do the right thing by stevedores.  He also says that the matter should have been raised during the house meeting last Friday.

Evan ‘Mose’ Hyde, Special Advisor, C.W.U.

“Our team recognizes as well [that] even though we now have the participation of the Ministry of Labor; one, it doesn’t appear that PBL feels that the Ministry of Labor has any ability or any interest to really bring any pressure on them and it doesn’t appear at this point in time that the Ministry of Labor, at least since that letter has been written, we have seen nothing to indicate that they are going to back the directive that they gave in that meeting.  So this update that we are giving now is that this is the scenario that we will now go forward to present to our members.  We definitely mark the fact that the management has a line drawn in the sand that they are not going to comply with the ESAT.  We have no indication that the Ministry of Labor is going to up the ante.  There is nothing coming from them to say that they are going to stand behind what they have directed PBL to do.  We are concerned as well by the fact that it’s bewildering to us that this question was somehow prevented from even being introduced into the parliament that of course came on on Friday and we are like, we don’t understand how that is not a matter relevant for a parliamentary discussion.”