And if you thought the situation in the sugar cane industry was complicated, an announcement late this evening makes that an understatement. At around five today Audrey Matura Shepherd, flanked by cane farmer Lucilo Teck and Finance committee chairman Javier Keme, broke the news that they had filed an application for mandamus in the court. […]
And while the application for the order of mandamus is one thing, there’s also the matter of the application for an interim injunction to prevent the B.S.C.F.A. from signing any agreement with ASR/B.S.I. The court has set Friday as the date for a hearing on that injunction. But the B.S.C.F.A. has agreed to go to […]
On Monday, firebrand attorney Audrey Matura-Shepherd filed an injunction to stop the signing of an agreement between the two parties. But tonight, where does she fit into the equation? As you’ve noted, there are two distinct factions in the B.S.C.F.A. – one which wants to sign now, and one which doesn’t. The group which wants […]
The New Year may yet turn out to be a good one for cane-farmers in the north, as there is word tonight that the signing of the agreement is likely, sooner rather than later. It’s been a complicated back and forth between the B.S.C.F.A. and ASR/B.S.I., but last word to News Five is that the […]
Like we said, the industry and players are volatile. That interview with Chairman Cansino was done this afternoon, and about an hour after, we got word that parties had filed for an interim injunction to halt the signing of the agreement. It gets pretty complicated, but in a nutshell, cane-farmer Lucilo Teck is claiming that […]
Four of the eighteen directors under the B.S.C.F.A. signed a petition last week to go back to the general assembly. They were outvoted by the majority. So now those directors, and the cane-farmers who support them, made the decision to take the fight into another arena. They feel that the farmers have not benefitted from […]
That brings us to the industry bottom-line, which is that for all stake-holders from factory to field, the crop season needs to get underway. And it can, according to those we spoke to this afternoon. They state that the Sugar Industry Control Board, government’s player in the industry, has the authority and the obligation to […]
The final proposal for a purchasing agreement between the B.S.C.F.A. and B.S.I. remains to be endorsed, despite an amendment to a controversial term in a previous draft. Earlier this week, Chief Financial Officer Belizario Carballo expressed serious concerns about the National Trade Union Congress of Belize’s involvement in ongoing negotiations between the two parties. The […]
As we mentioned earlier, the N.T.U.C.B.’s role in the current process has been met with questions from B.S.I. concerning its agenda. While he did not speak openly, Carballo alluded to an interview last Friday in which the N.T.U.C.B. representative was purportedly misinformed of the facts of the matter pertaining to the purchasing agreement. Belizario […]
Tonight, the dispute between the B.S.C.F.A. and ASR/B.S.I. remains unresolved. The breakdown in negotiations comes after a long and hard fought agreement in principle by both parties, and from all accounts the bad guy in this scenario is B.S.I. Still, in the past days there have been attempts to bridge the gap caused by a […]
PM Barrow says that in the face of what was happening on the ground, backed up by the Memorandum of Understanding, the new wording introduced by B.S.I. completely bypassed what was in effect the accepted protocol. So in that regard, said the Prime Minister, the B.S.C.F.A.’s alarm and hesitation in signing the agreement was quite […]
We can conclude however, that perhaps the PM was being a wee bit too optimistic in his hope that the directors would sign off on the agreement today. That’s not going to happen because the directors won’t be meeting until tomorrow…and even then it’s unlikely the agreement would be signed because some directors have called […]
The by-laws of the B.S.C.F.A. allows for directors to call together an emergency session of the general assembly, and it will be done though a date has not been decided. That’s not considered good news for any one of the stakeholders who actually want to see the crop season started immediately because however it works […]
On Friday, we reported that the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association had refused to endorse a purchasing agreement with Belize Sugar Industries Limited under the premise that B.S.I. had introduced articles which were outside of the extent of the initial agreement. While B.S.I. has since argued the point that as purchaser the company reserves the […]
Now that the contentious item has been cleared from the contract Carballo says a response, as well as a signature from B.S.C.F.A. is imminent. The next step, he says, would be to discuss and finalize a starting date for the sugar crop. Belizario Carballo, Financial Controller, B.S.I. “We expect to have an agreement as […]
While B.S.I. remains optimistic that a response from B.S.C.F.A. is forthcoming, up to news time tonight the agreement had not been endorsed. The effect of the delay of the sugar crop, says Carballo, will only be known towards the end of the season in May 2015. Belizario Carballo, Financial Controller, B.S.I. “The response is […]
Tonight, the sugar industry is in a serious state of limbo, and tensions in the north are rising. The B.S.C.F.A. has refused to sign onto the purchasing agreement, the N.T.U.C.B. has jumped into the fray and B.S.I. is putting security protocols in place in anticipation of a protest. So how did we get to this […]
As we showed you, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize has put its considerable weight behind the cane-farmers of the north. That will without a doubt enhance the B.S.C.F.A.’s bargaining position – an enhancement it could no doubt have used in the past months when the Association, bit-by-bit relinquished all its bargaining points. But […]
The N.T.U.C.B. says one of its biggest concerns is the hardship to farmers who, Matura-Shepherd claims have been negotiating under economic duress. She’s said that Prime Minister Dean Barrow should roll the Petrocaribe up north, but in the absence of that, Fairtrade money will have to do. On Sunday cane-farmers passed a motion for two […]
The 2014-2015 sugar cane crop season will not start on Friday as was anticipated and forecast. In fact, it may not start anytime soon. Turns out that all the jubilation at the resolution of the impasse may have been just a little premature. News Five spoke to an official from the B.S.C.F.A. late this evening, […]
It is unlikely that the sugar cane crop will be able to start on Friday as anticipated. That’s because B.S.I. and the B.S.C.F.A. have yet to sign the agreement which will govern their relationship for the next seven years. We understand that there still needs to be some modification in areas of the document before […]
The sugar industry impasse has been broken. By Friday, or at least by the weekend, cane trucks from Orange Walk and Corozal should be lining up at BSI to deliver their product. The decision was made by a majority of cane-farmers on Sunday at a general assembly meeting, after members of the BSCFA and the […]
On Sunday a majority of cane-farmers voted to start the crop, accepting the proposals agreed to by the B.S.C.F.A. and B.S.I. As we told you, it’s not a popular decision in all quarters, since many believe that A.S.R./B.S.I. got everything it wanted from the very beginning, while cane-farmers had to bend on every point. Today, […]
There is a concord of sorts between A.S.R./B.S.I. and the B.S.C.F.A., but we wouldn’t go dusting off that old cane truck and making merry just yet. Both parties sat down together this morning with Prime Minister Dean Barrow and Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega at the Radisson in Belize City. In a nutshell, A.S.R. representatives […]
As you heard, pending the decision of the farmers on Sunday, the agreement will be for a period of seven years. There is an out for the farmers, but only after three years. At that time, if a strategic development plan for the industry is not developed to the satisfaction of B.S.C.F.A., the farmers can […]
