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Last week, with the possible nationalisation of the port hanging in the balance, the attorney for the Port of Belize, Godfrey Smith got both sides to come to the table. With Smith acting more as mediator than attorney for the Port they emerged yesterday from 4 days of intense negotiation with a long delayed CBA. 7News had the only camera in the room for this historic moment and Jules Vasquez reports:

The atmosphere inside the Tapir room at the Biltmore was cordial, respectful and even relaxed as the Port of Belize and the Christian Workers Union signed a three year collective bargaining agreement.

And while they had gone 16 years without one, after the whirlwind events of the past two weeks including a strike, a police declared riot, and a threat to nationalize the port, negotiations took on new urgency since Thursday. In a series of marathon sessions over the past four days - one session going for 17 hours - both sides hammered out the new CBA, which will last for three years.

Mose Hyde, President CWU
"I know what the members feel, they have been here every step of the way, so this is a moment that means a lot for them. At this point I think there is tremendous relief and many of them are very tired, not just fatigue from the 4 days of being up, but I think it's taken a toll on them, an emotional toll, so I know that they are very relieve and we at the union are very comforted for the fact that they have an agreement iun place."

Ann Marie Thompson, Labour Commissioner
"This is exemplary for not just us to see in the country, but the world how we can sit and negotiate."

Arturo Tux Vasquez, Pvt. Invest. Ltd. - Receiver
"We took four days doing this, but actually this started in 2012, that negotiation started since then and quite a lot of what is being accomplish then is easily been incorporated into this document."

It was signed in the presence of the Labour Commissioner, by the President and Secretary General of the CWU, Mose Hyde and Floyd Neal along with senior Stevedores on one side, and Port CEO, Pablo Salinas, Tux Vasquez from receiver Private Investment Limited on the other.

Signed on a Sunday afternoon so that work could immediately begin to offload a cargo ship anchored offshore since last week.

Mose Hyde, President CWU
"This has been a negotiation that has had the pressure of the nation's entry point for goods and cargo and that has been the atmosphere by which we've been tasked to find agreement and close a chapter that has taken as you have pointed out so long to close, so it's been grueling, I believe that now they cannot wait, they got to get back on the water front to do their work."

And as they signed to go back to the waterfront to work, there's no forgetting what happened they last time they went inside the Port.

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Would we have been here without the mostly unfortunate events of that Wednesday two weeks ago?"

Mose Hyde, President CWU
"You know what I said to stevedores earlier today when they were going to decide on whether or not they would accept the agreement I said that in not so diplomatic and broadcast friendly language describe them as some very special people, because their approach I believe is what has created this day . From the day of privatization they have used their bodies literally to defend their right to be on the water front in a dignified and in a stable living wage earning profession. So I believe a maximum credit due to the stevedores for the way that they have approached standing up for self and the courage in which they have done so. They are very special, I am a visitor to a special place in the land of stevedores."

And while this chapter ended with handshakes - another difficult chapter begins for the CWU - which now enters negotiations for the CBA for Port employees:

Mose Hyde, President CWU
"What I would hope is that we're able to get back around the table, obviously no doubt we feel that something has moved here, progress has been made and now we hope to achieve that for our staff at PBL as well and we have to fight that fight and hopefully this same energy of commitment to resolving with respect is going to be maintained and we that I believe we are going to work through some very difficult issues."

But, they got through this one - and what was most striking was the cordial, frank dialogue, the familiar, respectful exchanges between sides that 10 days earlier had been at daggers drawn

Now, they were arm in arm - a celebration of an accomplishment, but also a promising de-escalation of hostilities. Which is why President Mose Hyde guarded his words on Sunday:

Mose Hyde, President CWU
"One of the things we don't want to have happen is to escalate the level of negative energy that exists, over the past days I have not really been saying anything because we are really trying to control that kind of engagement because there's a lot at stake."

We're told the most significant stumbling block was the hours of work. In the past Stevedores used to work very extended shifts to clear a ship. They agreed in this negotiation to work only 15 hour shifts, followed by 9 hours rest which is the legal requirement. This made the negotiation work, but we understand that shipping agents and brokers are none too happy with it, since it will take significantly longer to clear ships.