We also asked the President of the Christian Workers Union about the
perspective of PBL management.
In a press release, the Port of Belize said, quote,
"For hours the CWU members caused these unfortunate incidents on
the Port that included serious and dangerous vandalism to property,
including vehicle fires, tampering with the electrical supply,
smashing windows, and destroying IT infrastructure. PBL wishes to
thank the authorities for their efforts to regain control after
bearing witness to these acts."
End quote.
7News has also seen a recent correspondence between the CWU President
and a representative of the Port's Management. That representative
makes it clear that the Port will not disclose any financial
information. The CWU has been demanding to see the Port's finances so
that they can determine whether the proposed pay cuts are justified.
In a letter dated, July 20th, Pablo Salinas, the Chief Operating
Officer of the Port, wrote to CWU President saying they union is asking
for, quote, "financial and highly confidential information, including
audit financial statements, existing PBL contracts, cash flow
projections, dividends to shareholders, management fees, debt service
information - the entire financial guts of PBL, a private company.
It is obvious - and unfortunate- that we hold widely divergent
interpretations of the redundancy provisions of the Labour Act."
End quote.
In our interview this afternoon, we put a few of those divergent views
from the Port to the CWU president. Here's that conversation, starting
with the Port's insistence that they have no obligation to release
sensitive financial information:
Evan "Mose" Hyde - President, CWU
"Not only have we made that request to other entities, but that request has
been complied with, even without having such specific accommodation in the
respective agreements. Those companies understood. We're in the pandemic,
and we are essentially stabilizing our entity, using the worker. So,
ethically, morally, when you are saying to somebody, I need you to help me.
I need you to sacrifice for the company, that person has every right to say
to you, okay boss, let me see how the thing looks for real so that I could
know how much I will need to give up. I can't be in the dark when it comes
to giving up when it is me who's giving it up. You want people in the dark,
with no access to the actual data, [to] take a leap of faith, and believe
you, and then look back on your track record, since you came, you've been
boxing us. From you arrived, you are punching us. From you came, you aren't
respecting the agreement. From you came, you don't want to deal with
transparency. This is not the time when we can grow any faith in you. The
suggestion that we are somehow outside of our jurisdiction, to request
documents so that we can make an informed intervention."
Reporter
"They are taking the negative view, the opposite view, that yesterday's
protest was nothing peaceful. They're suggested that your membership acted
violently, and destroyed their infrastructure, burn a vehicle on the
compound. They're suggesting that you all handled a particular situation in
an unruly and unprofessional manner."
Evan "Mose" Hyde
"Show me where the fence came down. Show me where there was any forced
entry into the compound. Show me the video footage that indicates that
there was a riot going on. Like I will not respond to their simple
comments. I want to deal with facts. Was there a riot going on the part of
our workers. Look at the images. Was there a riot? Because the response was
to a riot. Was there a riot. There was none. So, for them to feel
comfortable in suggesting that there was an appropriate response by the
enforcement arm of the state, when the Prime Minister of the country, the
Attorney General of the country, and the Commissioner of Police was saying
that the response was not appropriate, but they believe it was? That speaks
to their character again."
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