On Tuesday the Christian Workers Union held a press conference where they accused the City Council of union busting. That’s after the City Council blocked them from attending a meeting with staff with a last minute email - when the request went in 5 days earlier. The CWU is representing a dozen of the city’s cemetery workers - who were complaining about subsistence payments.
Today the Council held a press conference to give its side of the story. Mayor Bernard Wagner said the message to the CWU was sent at the last minute - because the council was busy:
Bernard Wagner - Belize City Mayor
"We were very busy with the celebrations obviously and we sent out that message around six in the morning but at no point in time we do not want to include the union’s members in any of our meetings. The fact is that you have a business and sometimes you want to have meetings with your stuff; it's not every time a matter comes up that you will require a representative from the union. If there's no dispute and that is where we continue to maintain that there's no dispute. Workers have issues, you get into a room with your employer, you work it out and you move on. Now if there is a labour dispute and all that stuff then your union representative will be in that room but there's no dispute."
Jules Vasquez
"You had a dispute over subsistence though."
Bernard Wagner
"Yes but that is an internal matter, we could work that out at any time."
Jules Vasquez
"What now is the issue of subsistence with those workers? Are they being paid? The 12 of 13 who are union members; are they being paid in a satisfactory fashion?"
Bernard Wagner
"Everybody is being paid; we worked that out from the last meeting I had with them. We worked that out, they had some issue to the best of my knowledge that they wanted instead of getting the food; they just wanted the subsistence in hand and we have worked that out, we said we will give them in hand."
And while the mayor says that dispute over subsistence is behind them - he bristled at the suggestion that CWU president Mose Hyde made that his council was union busting:
Bernard Wagner
"The charge of union busting is far beyond what the council stands for. This PUP city council, the PUP founded on the backs of unionism, so clearly that charge to me is really way ahead of us - that's not in our DNA, in the PUP DNA of union busting."
Jules Vasquez
"It's hurtful to you that this council was accused of union busting; publicly accused of union busting. You take it as a personal slight - I don't like to bring these things up but it's inevitable. Moses if your brother in law, I’m just saying that it must could have been discussed otherwise; what's your position on that before your name and the name of the council is dragged out into the street as union busting? One thinks a call could have been made to just straighten it out interfamilial."
Bernard Wagner
"I continue to enjoy a good relationship with the president. Words were said, things were said - our mantra, the PUP mantra and I continue to say was built on unionism and so; that's left up to them."
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