For year now, the Port of Belize and the Stevedores have been trying to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement. The stevedores' representative which is the Christian Workers Union has gone through four presidents - and still there's no agreement. But the current President Mose Hyde says the buck stops with him. He wrote to the Labour Commissioner on Friday, telling him that the CWU, quote, "on behalf of its Stevedore Members, hereby invokes the twenty-one days notice to institute industrial action against Port of Belize Limited"
This comes out of a meeting last week Wednesday when the CWU claims the Port declared an impasse in the negotiations - after the CWU rejected the Port's hours of work proposal.
A release from the CWU says, quote, "This refusal to engage on any other matter that remains on the agreed list is no less than extreme bad faith."
Industrial action by the Stevedores would be a heavy blow to the Port - and tomorrow makes it 19 days notice remaining.
The Labour Commissioner has not indicated if he will intervene.
We hope to have comment from the port tomorrow.
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