C.E.O of P.B.L: We Transferred Stevedores to Other Operations

Ted Peralta

C.E.O Peralta explained that the reason why the Port of Belize does not agree that it ought to make redundancy pay-outs to the stevedores is because the company, in its effort to keep everyone employed, transferred those stevedores to other posts. As a result, they never lost earnings or their job.

Ted Peralta, C.E.O., Port of Belize Ltd.

“Certain members were moved into containerized operations and therefore they didn’t lose any earnings or any job, as you would say. So the fact remains that how could we then pay out something that is not even there to consider of paying out? I mean, we also made reference in our press release to Section 45 in the Labor Act, whereby it speaks directly about redundancy and what encompasses redundancy. And none of that currently encompasses what has been undergoing or what has been undertaken by us as PBL to safeguard Steve Edward’s livelihood. Now, it goes even further to that in regards to what we look at, how we have tried to gather from various information, right what or where the stevedores believe, or the union believes that such loss of earnings or redundancy was come about from and we have yet to try to understand where these calculations are being brought forth.”