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The president read their prepared remarks on the pay cuts, and why the affected workers are so aggrieved by it:

Evan Mose Hyde - President, CWU
"One of the biggest violations of the present Agreement is the refusal over the last seven years to comply with Article XXIV- EX-GRATIA BONUS Grant of 5% basic salary once the Port made a net profit of $500,000 as disclosed by the annual financial statement of the Port. The audited financials have not been provided to CWU since the receivership took over, and the 5% bonus became 3% without any consultation with or agreement from our members. Under Article XXVII PBL committed that "All workers who have been continuously employed for six (6) months or more are considered as regular workers." PBL has failed to comply with this. It's only natural, therefore, that our Members don't accept that it is fair to cut their salaries by ten percent without the disclosure of the company's financials. It is very likely that our Members have already made their COVID-19 sacrifices before it even existed as a challenge if the company cannot comply with this CBA requirement and justify the noncompliance with the 5% bonus. CWU understands the unique challenges of this pandemic, but that doesn't mean that the Union will be in the business of giving out passes to management without due diligence and without our Members being treated respectfully. There will be no blind faith in the words of comfort from management that doesn't have a history of being trustworthy or respectful. Every penny matters, now more than ever. Every penny that is being threatened to be taken away from our Members has to be justified by the Union's financial consultant, confidentially and fairly."

"We are not making an unreasonable request to say listen, if we're going to discuss compromise and sacrifice, it must be independently verified. That is our due-diligence, and for the company to act arrogantly, and disrespectfully, to outrightly suggest that this is is some kind of outrageous expectation, we find to be unacceptable. The financials of the company have been requested by this union multiple times, and they have refused on the basis that they are a receivership. In our view, and in a legal opinion that we have, that is not a right that a receivership has. The receivership has to respect the agreement that it inherits."

After the floor was opened to questions from the press, we asked the head table to explain this insistence that the union is well in its right to request an independent review of the Port's financials. President Mose Hyde explained that as part of the outdated collective bargaining agreement that the two sides have been unable to finalize for over a decade, there is a clause which speaks to an annual 5% salary increase for staffers, if the port is able to realize a profit of half a million dollars. According to Hyde, workers have likely been shorted on this for many years, and that 2% they have been giving up could well add up to more than that 10%:

Evan Mose Hyde - President, CWU
"The specific agreement that requires the finances to be audited has to do with an annual bonus that is to be given to our members, an annual bonus of 5% that is hinged on the company making a minimum of $500,000 profit. No, the only way CWU can know that you don't owe the staff 5%, the only - you can tell us, but that is not how the real world works. We must be allowed to sleep with our own eyes, and to do our own due diligence, and say well, let us see what you did this year, and see if our members qualify for that 5%. So, instead of providing the financials, because it appears that for some unknown reason, they are not comfortable with being transparent. We don't know what there is to hide. But instead of complying with that requirement, they have opted to provide our membership with 3%. Now, 5 is 5, brother. That is the agreement, Cinco. That means that our members have had a 2% bonus taken away from them every single year. So, if it is now that you're saying that they need to make a sacrifice, is it not fair for them to consider that maybe they have already made that sacrifice, they have already given that plus more, over the years to this company. So, we know that there is a tough climate out here."

"We look on it as a case where, if you're in an abusive relationship, as we believe our members have been in for the last decade and a half to almost 2 decades, especially under this receivership, you are going to be very irresponsible if, after being abused, you are then being told that you have to jump up and immediately be a part of the burden-carrying when you were not invited when everything was sweet. You were not treated with respect when all the niceties were being out. And even things that your agreement called for, you were not getting."

We also asked Hyde to comment on the Port's skepticism that the CWU was truly democratic in arriving at its objection to the pay cuts.

In its press release from last Friday, the port said, quote, "…tThe CWU refused to allow 67, out of a total 152, staff members covered by the Collective Agreement (to participate.)" Here's what he had to say to that, and the fact that the pay cuts were implemented on today's pay day, despite the union's resistance:

Evan Mose Hyde - President, CWU
"It was the matter, the difference between the truth, and a lie. So, the lie is that we have 150 members at the port. We do not. We have 80 members, and of those 80 members, 64 were present. So, unanimous vote for those who were present, and it would represent almost 75%, thereabout of our entire membership at PBL. So, they tried very deceitfully to suggest that the vote was illegitimate when they know very well - and anybody who has been associated with a union knows that this is how it works. To put a union at an establishment, what is required by law is that you must get 50% plus 1 of the people who are employed there. Once it is you get 50%, then you have a union, and you are able to negotiate for an agreement on behalf of all the people who work there. So, whatever it is that union is able to secure, then every person who works there, members and non-members, they get to benefit from that agreement."

Reporter
"Port of Belize makes it clear that they will implement this 10% cut, with or without the union's agreement."

Evan Mose Hyde
"What the union does, what our members do, that is a plan that we have, which includes this initiative to come through the media, to engage the public. We believe that what they are trying to create is a narrative that somehow, there is something ridiculous or unreasonable about our members saying, no, no, you can't just come and touch our 10%. And they do that by pointing out that you have companies that have laid people off, terminated people, reduced their salaries by 75%, by 50%. So, they are suggesting that our members are acting as though they are more special than everybody else. like, what is wrong with our members now, [they] don't want to give up 10%. And in our view, it is important for us to reach out to the public to have them understand. Each situation is different, and the details dictate what is right, what is wrong, what is fair, and what is just. You don't know it just from listening to somebody saying well, we have corona pandemic. We are not in the business of giving out pandemic passes. There is due-diligence that has to be done because, at the end of the day, when a member goes home, and they go home with every 10 cents out of a dollar staying back with the company, they have to know that they have done so, after ensuring that they have checked all the information that is available, and this is the only compromise that was possible."

Of important note is that the Union is currently not providing any details about any sort of action they may take regarding this disagreement with the 10% salary reduction. The President says that coming forward and making a clear case to the general public about CWU's grievances is part of that undisclosed strategy which the members have mandated.