7 News Belize

Port Readies To Send Home Workers, AG’s Office Seeks Injunction
posted (July 21, 2020)
The Port of Belize is getting ready to send home 36 staff members tomorrow and 29 of them are members of the Christian Workers Union.

That union has been leading lunchtime protests with security workers for the past 14 days, leading up to their 21 days notice to strike.

Today at noon we spoke to Christian Workers Union president Mose Hyde who says that PBL is acting against labour laws.

Mose Hyde, President, CWU
"This is now day-14 of the staff of the Port of Belize Ltd., using their lunch hour to register their disapproval and their displeasure with what the union describes as unilateral and the illegal taking away a 10% from their earnings both their regular hours and over time, without and sign consent from any member or from the union. We were in the middle of having a dialogue about it, we requested financial transparency so that it could be independently verified and essentially they said they are not in that business of providing any transparency and they didn't wish to speak with us in a meeting that the minister of labour via the minister herself had invited them to and so when they turn down that meeting we launch the lunch hour protest to try to get the attention of the employer to have them understand that this situation is very grave. So this is day 14 days of doing this. There has been a tribunal that has been put in place, the essential services tribunal and that will begin tomorrow. Unfortunately, while trying to resolve the 10%, PBL decided to escalate and are now looking to terminate 36 employees; 29 of which are union members; 4 of which are union reps., so that matter now has reached a very tense point, because in back and forth the ministry of labour is essentially telling PBL that it is not in their view following section 45 of the labour act which covers redundancy. They have expressed that they do not agree with the ministry of labour, so they are npt essentially going to change their position of wanting to terminate our members tomorrow. In our view PBL seeks to act as if though it's above the very labour act and above the ministry of labour."

In an update to our top story, a release just came from the government press office saying that the Attorney General will file a request for an injunction to stall implementation of redundancy at Port Of Belize Limited.

It says, quote, "The Attorney General, on behalf of the Ministry of Labour, is seeking to file a request to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2020, for an injunction to restrain the Port of Belize Limited (PBL) from implementing terminations of employees, majority of whom are members of the Christian Workers Union (CWU), also scheduled for July22nd, 2020."

End quote.

The release also stresses that the, quote "Labour Department advised the PBL of the need to comply with the requirements of the Labour Act. In particular, the company's attention has repeatedly been brought to Section 45 (3) of the Act, which outlines the requirements, processes and protocols that must be followed. Even though any employer has the prerogative to make a redundancy decision, a key requirement is that of due process under the law. The role of the Labour Department in the implementation of redundancies is to ensure that the law is followed and that workers receive due notice."

The Labour Department continues to request the PBL's compliance with the provisions of the Labour Act. End quote.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize