21 days notice of industrial action, that's what the Christian Workers Union has given the Port of Belize.
A letter from the union says that its Members who work in the Security Department at Port are moving from the protest stage to invoking the twenty-one (21) days' notice of intent to strike.
As we've reported, it's all about the CWU's efforts to get the Port to rescind what it calls an "arbitrary and unconscionable ten percent salaries reduction" against its Members.
Union Leader Mose Hyde says the stevedores stand in solidarity with the staff:
Evan 'Mose' Hyde, President, C.W.U.
"The 21 days' notice applies to the security personnel who are declared essential service. The regular staff are not a part of that, so they can strike today, but the security people need 21 day notice to be put forward which we did yesterday. It is the staff that has their salaries deducted presently by 10%. As a co-unit of PBL stevedores are now ratcheting up their visible solidarity with the staff. So if you notice here today we have double digit stevedores as a part of this lunch hour process that we are doing. What we are seeing is that more and more of the staff embracing the fact that they have to stand up and there is no weaning of their commitment, they remain very steadfast and I think especially now that they see the stevedores coming out to support them visibly standing in solidarity - that also boost the commitment and their focus on this matter. I believe that we have been hoping from the time we wrote them about what the staff voted for that they would have been reasonable that they would have been responsible and that they would have prevented all of this. It's really not for me to explain why they have chosen to go down this path of ignoring essentially disrespecting their staff. Really and truly they are what your entire service is built on."
Reporter
"What does 10% mean to a livelihood?"
Evan 'Mose' Hyde
"That's a great question. It's important when you walk in and you use your video cameras you will notice outside the port there is an extended bike rack, the staff of PBL they come to work on bicycles. These are not middle call type income we are dealing with here. For the most part these are the working class, people who work and help service the machinery that is used as a part of the port and the people who unload the boxes that come in, the security personnel, it is the people who clean the offices. So when you are looking at 10% of their salaries, it's a significant loss, because these are people who are walking a very thin line of balance and that is why we are so committed. For somebody, might say well 10% is - why don't they just accept it, at least they are still employed. When your financial stability is going to be taken away, you want to know that it has been done so justifiably and you want to know that the entity that you are working for has the respect to be transparent when it is you ask for that. 10% is also a principle stand, because you feel disrespected and that is why the union cannot just abandoned this and why we cannot just say give a pandemic pass. We can't say well it is the pandemic so we don't worry about it. We have to demand that there is a justifiable reason for taking a single penny from one of our members."
We'll continue to follow this story. We note also news of dissatisfaction within the medical staff at the KHMH. They have been open 12 hours shifts since the start of the COVID curfews, and now that the curfew is done, they want to go back to regular 8 hour shifts. A meeting was held with staff today, and they hope to get consensus in the form of a vote on the shifts later this week.
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