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CWU, Port of Belize end waterfront impasse

LatestCWU, Port of Belize end waterfront impasse

Ministry of Labour, Port of Belize, CWU “satisfied” with the results

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 25, 2018– On Tuesday afternoon representatives of the Christian Workers Union (CWU) met with representatives of the Port of Belize Limited (PBL) in an effort to hammer out an agreement regarding conditions of work for Belize’s stevedores. The meeting resulted in a breakthrough of the impasse between the two sides that had prompted the CWU to issue a 21-days’ notice of intended industrial action.

With the breakthrough, the CWU has withdrawn its 21-days’ notice as both sides inch closer to a collective bargaining agreement, and the Ministry of Labour announced today that it is satisfied with the results and has withdrawn itself as an observer with immediate effect.

The CWU issued a press release in which it said, “We now feel confident that sufficient progress has been made in our negotiations with the Port of Belize Limited (PBL) to conclude a Collective Agreement for our stevedore members, that the Christian Workers Union has today withdrawn our 21-days Industrial Action Notice.”

“CWU President Evan Mose Hyde indicated this development in a letter this afternoon to Senator Dr. Carla Barnett, Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour, Local Government and Rural Development,” said the CWU press release.

Upon exiting the meeting, which was held at the Labor Department office on Albert Street, in Belize City, CWU president Evan “Mose” Hyde said, “Today’s meeting was very positive. I would say that we have moved a good ways. They got a chance to look at our counter-proposal, and the significant thing is that they are prepared, once we have done all the work with the numbers, to utilize the adjustments in the hourly rate to neutralize any earnings loss that our members are going to be faced with. And for us, that is a big issue.”

Hyde added, “But, even bigger than that is that they have agreed that they will be in solidarity with us in asking the Minister to make the exception for stevedores as a unique profession. So that even though our counter-proposal makes some adjustments, we still want it to be on the record that the stevedores are a unique profession, so that whatever that final agreement is with the hours that we will work and the ceiling on it, that we have flexibility in that.”

Arturo “Tux” Vasquez, the CEO of PBL, declared, “The proposal put forth by the union, which is just the basis of the hours of work, not necessarily the detail, is quite acceptable, and we’ve looked at it. And I would say, 80-85%, 90% of it can be considered. Of course, some negotiation has to be done with it, but I believe that both parties are in agreement that that initial proposal is possible. Discussions can happen, and I think that we have made significant progress there.”

Vasquez said, “It was first the suggestion, and it’s a part of the proposal on the hours of work — where the union is saying that they are prepared to work the 15 hours, as the law prescribes. However, if there are circumstances where, for example, if a ship is 36 hours, they would like to do two 18’s, instead of breaking 15 and 15, and a smaller, you understand.

“So, they were proposing to push it to 18. That’s their proposal. I think that the AG (Attorney General) had mentioned that changes can be made; however, I still believe that there are some limitations to those changes. But I’m not an attorney. It is for the AG now to determine whether he can actually make the changes that he said he could. We agreed to the 18, simply because, in my view, 15 hours and 18 hours is not much. I think that within a human capacity, that is still something within reason, and it is a far cry from 50 and 60 hours.”

CWU president Hyde explained that they have to get in touch with the Minister of Labor, “because we seek an agreement from her that they are going to put that exception that the stevedores are a unique profession. And that is important because, as I expressed to the PBL team, this is not a thing where you only negotiate one time, and then it’s forever and ever. At some point, there’s going to be an owner of the port, and it’s possible, even though I said to them I think it’s going be very difficult to imagine a group more difficult than them — but somebody might come and want to revisit this issue and challenge our members on this. And so, having that in law is going to be very important for us.”

The PBL wanted the union to agree to a reduction in the size of the gangs, but the CWU president, Hyde, had indicated that that position is not up for negotiation. Hyde had described the union’s position on the size of the gangs as being “titanium” — meaning that it cannot be changed.

Hyde explained the gang composition situation: “And then, even more significantly – well not more significantly because we thought there would have been a potential impasse:  the matter of gang reduction, the Port has said they are withdrawing that. So, they are no longer requesting for any gang reduction to take place,” he said.

PBL CEO, Vasquez, was asked why there was a change of heart on this aspect of the discussions. “The situation of the gang size was always something that was to be negotiated, to be discussed. We gave it some consideration. We had a caucus, and we deliberated on it, and we believe that at this point, in order to assist the overall agreement, and moving forward, I think that it’s best that we put that behind us for now. So, that’s really what we did,” Vasquez responded.

Before the day had ended, the CWU issued its press release withdrawing its 21-days’ industrial action notice and itemizing the progress that has been made in the negotiations.

The CWU, in concluding its press release, expressed appreciation for the role of the Ministry of Labor in the negotiations.

“Dr. Barnett, her CEO, and the Acting Labour Commissioner have observed the negotiations between CWU and PBL leading up to today’s developments. Both parties have applauded the role played by the Labour Ministry in helping them bridge their divide,” the press release said.

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