Garbage strike ends as B.M.L. and CitCo compromise
The two week protest staged by Belize Maintenance Limited workers has come to an end… at least for now. And that is because the Belize City Council has come to an agreement with the company. Though the council has an outstanding debt of two point seven million dollars, B.M.L.’s managing director was asking for approximately three hundred thousand dollars for the company to retain the one hundred and fifty plus workers it had sent home. Some of the workers had to temporarily remove their children from school as the bills were mounting and they simply had no money. The company has been working with a skeleton staff of thirty, but today the council offered B.M.L. an undisclosed sum of money to get the protestors back on the job. Councillor Responsible for Garbage Collection, Phillip Willoughby, and B.M.L.’s Managing Director, Lawrence Ellis, shook hands at the meeting which was chaired by Deputy Mayor Dion Leslie.
Dion Leslie, Deputy Mayor, Belize City
“Mr. Ellis, myself and doctor Vanjani, we came to an agreement this morning where the BML workers would be able to go back to work and they would move from in front of City Hall and cease with the picketing and protesting. After days of discussion and back and forth between the council and Mr. Ellis, we came to a mutual understanding where Mr. Ellis understood that the council could not meet the three hundred and odd thousand that he had previously asked for but we came up with a substantially easier figure, a more realistic figure that the council will be able to manage just to get the people back to work.”
Lawrence Ellis, Managing Director, B.M.L.
“After several weeks of my employees out there, I decided to further compromise just to get the workers back to work and for them to collect their back pay. That was the only thing I wasn’t going to compromise on, their back pay. This decision today basically deals with that and deals with how we’re going to move forward. As to the arrears owed to B.M.L., we will get together and come up with a solid payment plan as to the way forward.”
Phillip Willoughby, Councillor Responsible for Garbage Collection
“The finances of the council will be looked after by the acting mayor and Mister Tillett to ensure that there is no further breakdown whereby the council finances are going. So again Mister Ellis thanks for everything and the demonstration thing, man hey yoh got fi do weh yoh got fi do. Even though reports went out and press releases went out to say that I try to undermine the council of which I am a part of is truly a fabrication of myself and my dignity because never once did I collude with Mr. Ellis to undertake the undertaking, but according to Mr. Ellis it was totally on the part of his employees to do what they have done in solidarity with his company.”
B.M.L.’s manager says that he will pay his workers for the two weeks that they were out protesting. Deputy Mayor Leslie says that a subcommittee meeting will be held tomorrow morning at City Hall to look at the finances of the council and the sanitation contracts.
