Electricity workers accuse B.E.L. of being “greedy” and “unethical”

Belize Electricity Limited has been taking a lot of heat from consumers ever since it requested an increase in rates. But tonight the company is taking flack from its own employees. A press release issued today by the Belize Energy Workers Union lambasted B.E.L., calling the application for price hikes (quote) “not only greedy, but a moral and unethical contempt of the Belizean electrical energy consumer.” End quote. B.E.W.U. also criticized the company for what it refers to as the illegal termination of veteran employee and union negotiator, Sheryl Cuthkelvin. The release goes on to accuse the utility of breeching several articles of an existing union agreement and playing dirty by refusing to sign a collective bargaining agreement unless the union drops its request for a four-point five percent salary increase for non-management employees.

In response, B.E.L. fired off its own release this afternoon, vehemently denying the allegations. According to B.E.L., the B.E.W.U. is unjustly attacking the company’s integrity and the union’s now public sentiments never came up in any of the regular employee meetings they’ve been having, even though union executives were present. The company maintains that while it has denied a request by the union for a twenty-five percent across the board salary increase, as well as a four point five percent raise for non-management employees, in December it did offer a two percent increase in addition to a merit bonus. The union apparently passed up that opportunity and B.E.L. decided to give management the raise instead.

We’re not sure what will happen next, but at the end of their release, the B.E.W.U. ominously warned that it will (quote) “exercise any of its many options to inform Mr. Lynn Young and B.E.L. that we are not prepared to play these games in accepting violations with impunity of our union contract.”