B.C.W.U.: arbitration references are incorrect
Last week it seemed that the tribunal investigating the firing of three B.T.L. employees was finally coming together: the members of the panel were selected and the long-awaited terms of reference released. But tonight things are back at square one because those terms of reference have union leaders up in arms. According to General Secretary of the Belize Communication Workers Union Christine Perriott, the document does not reflect the grounds of the dispute.
Christine Perriott, General Secretary, B.C.W.U.
“The objective for tribunal is to see if the firing of the three guys, namely Nelson Young, Andy Sutherland and Enrique Molina, constitute a restructuring of B.T.L. and the other one is to see if the conditions of all employees were violated or something of that sort and that is not what the trade dispute is about. The main concern with us with the trade dispute is that the collective agreement is being violated and when we pointed out different articles, so it’s the collective agreement that is being violated and then we have the process of consultation which is from the Memorandum of Understanding. We spoke about a restructure, but in the back drop that if in case they say that these guys were not fired because of any other reason perhaps they were going through restructuring because just two weeks before they were talking about five percent of the employees of B.T.L. need to go home. So we just put in all those pointers should in case they say well it was that, then we have that in but to say that if the determination would be because of a restructuring of B.T.L., that’s not what the trade dispute is about.”
According to Perriott, efforts are underway to meet with Minister of Labour Francis Fonseca to clarify the arbitration process. In the meantime, the B.C.W.U. has planned to write a letter to the Minister expressing their dissatisfaction with the terms of reference. As we reported last week, the arbitration panel consists of government appointees Gilbert Johnson, Carlos Santos and Chief Magistrate Margaret McKenzie while the B.C.W.U. nominee is Winston Carr. Belize Telecommunications Limited will be represented by businessman Mark Lizarraga. The arbitration panel held its first meeting today in Belize City.
