Tomorrow will make it 21 days since the Christian Workers Union gave three weeks strike notice. The Port and the Stevedores had reached an impasse in negotiations over the issue of the hours of work. The stevedores want to work shifts exceeding 15 hours, the Port says it's against the law. The Labour Minister interceded, broke the impasse and got them to return to the negotiating table.
They did so yesterday, and both sides emerged with positive views on the progress they made. It was looking like the dispute was on the way to being resolved without a need for strike. That's until the Port and the CWU returned today to discuss the union's counter proposal on a fix for the hours of work.
7News was at the labour office for this afternoon's follow-up meeting. We were surprised to find out that the union's negotiating team left the meeting early. That's because the Port wanted them to stop the countdown on the 21-days notice for the strike, which ends tomorrow. The union was still not prepared to do that, and that almost cause a complete breakdown in the talks. Daniel Ortiz picks up the story at that moment, and here's his report:
6 minutes after the meeting was scheduled to start, we saw the CWU President and the stevedores' negotiating team exiting the labour office. They left early, citing a frustration with the latest position from the Port's CEO.
Evan "Mose" Hyde - President, CWU
"We decided to leave the room because the other side, the Port of Belize limited, they are challenging the minister to get us to rescind our strike before he negotiates. The minister opened the meeting by stating she is going to extend our strike action 10 more days which she has the power to do. He is not comfortable with that, he is challenging the minister's position, that's between him and the minister. We are around a table, our time is as precious as the port's time, we asked, are we going to negotiate to which there was no answer. We have decided to leave the room, that's our position right now."
Just as the CWU President and the stevedores were about to disperse from the Labour Office on Albert Street, the Minister, Dr. Carla Barnett, requested to speak with him, no doubt to convince him to return to the meeting.
The men then went back upstairs, and half hour later, the Minister exited with the good news that the two sides were, at the very least, talking again, and that the initial tensions from the afternoon had cooled off:
Hon. Dr. Carla Barnett - Minister of State, Labour
"It was just a little bit of a misunderstanding at the start of the meeting and I'm sure they'll both want to give you their own views on what happened. Sometimes it is not what you say, it is how you say it and I think there was a little bit of a difficulty in the way things were being put across the table and it required a little bit of a cooling off."
Daniel Ortiz
"That simple sticking point could have caused today's negotiations or discussions to grind to a complete halt."
Arturo "Tux" Vasquez - CEO, Port of Belize Limited
"It could have I agree and again, like I said, I did not expect that the 21 days would have been extended. Obviously I did not expect that but again with the explanation I got, I am prepared to continue discuss it. I thought that once we had arrived at that compromise of saying we will exchange counter proposals for the hours of work, I thought the 21 days came off."
So, that left the two sides to discuss the matters planned for the afternoon, and today's meeting was rather brief, when compared with yesterday's sessions.
Evan "Mose" Hyde
"We have presented them a verbal description of our counter proposal and a matter of hours of work. It was sent to them during the lunch time today, so they have asked for more time to look at it, so we are scheduled to meet on Tuesday morning about what they feel about our counter proposal. What we have said them that is very important for us when it comes to the hours of work, for us to get from them a sense of whether or not the direction that we are going with our counter proposal is a direction they are okay with because accompanying that verbal description of our counter proposal is the work that has to be done by our accountant. That's fleshing it out with numbers and that's going to take some time and we express to them the reason why it takes time is not because we are trying to be disrespectful to the process but if we make a wrong more, our members are the ones that will carry the burden of that. We can't make a single mistake with those numbers and our accountant has expressed that."
"We also believe ultimately that we still seek that intervention from the Minister of Labor to create an exception for what's stevedores do. We believe it's a unique profession and we believe the nature of it requires that kind of attention from the law, so that is still a part of our counter proposal."
Arturo "Tux" Vasquez
"I've looked at it briefly and I believe some of it could be considered but some of it I'm sure we may not be able to consider but I'm not saying that now, he agreed that I got it at this time and I need some time to look at it. So we will meet again next week Tuesday morning."
In the meantime, there will be no strike, at least for the next 10 days. That postponement of industrial action comes by way of the Minister's intervention, exercising the powers given to her under the law.
Hon. Dr. Carla Barnett
"We were in fact preparing to extend the 21 days by 10 days, so that we could proceed with the establishment of the tribunal that's provided for under the law, so that if it came to that, we would be able to activate that very quickly. Today, we wrote both the Port of Belize and the Christian Workers Union formally telling them that we were extending the 21 days by a further 10 days, so that we could proceed to establish the tribunal required under the law and we also are sending off letters as we speak to the Chamber of Commerce and to the National Trade Union Congress, to identify representatives who can become a part of the tribunal that is to be set up under the law."
Evan "Mose" Hyde
"She has the power to extend our 21 days and so she has extended that 10 more days and our legal advisor has told us that she has the power to do so."
So, while the 2 side try to resolve the hours of work impasse, there is foreshadowing of another major point of contention that's brewing between the two sides.
Evan "Mose" Hyde
"We brought up a matter that is very important to us and we told the PBL negotiating team since yesterday they indicated that the gang composition was a matter they considered pending. Now you must understand for us that was very uncomfortable because our gangs have already been reduced by the intermediate agreement. So we don't view that as something that is spending, that's a matter where our stevedores have already sacrificed a man. Apparently they are of the opinion that we are to look at reducing our gangs even further and we have told them if there is anything that is made of titanium, it is that position. That even though we are here to negotiate, when it comes to the gang size, we will not move and so we have informed them that we will write a letter to the minister to indicate that we have another problem, we are not declaring an impasse on it but we are saying based on their response that they are firm on their position and we have told them that our position is made of titanium, then we want the minister to get that on her radar."
Arturo "Tux" Vasquez
"There was an agreement signed June of 2017 where there were 4 points that were agreed to and that's when the stevedores got their increase in their pension. From 3% of regular salary to 4% of production bonus, this actually multiplies the pension ten folds. So what I'm trying to explain to the union is that one particular item that we would have discussed a further deduction came as a result of a complete joint agreement. It was negotiating you get this, I get this, that type of thing and this is something that would be implemented in 2020 but the point I make again is right now we are at 2018, so it seems close but we actually did that in June of 2017, so we're actually looking at almost 3 years to look at this thing. So I think that because it is a part of the original give and take negotiation, I think it should remain on the table but of course I do appreciate the fact that Mr. Hyde was not around then, so he may not fully understand the give and take that we did then. We moved from 3% to 3 on production, then 4 on production and there was quite a bit there."
As to the issue of backpay that the port owes the stevedores, both the Port's CEO and the CWU president tell us that there is an agreement that the Port will pay them in 2 installments on November 15th, and 2 weeks later, at the end of the month. The two sides meet again on next week Tuesday morning.
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