And while the social partners are playing cagey on that one, so is the Prime Minister - who responded to a five and a half page letter from the NUTCB with a one and a half page non - response. The NTUCB asked detailed questions about the compulsory acquisition of 23 acres of Stake Bank island. And the PM basically said, he can't answer because it's all before the court.
He then reiterated what had been in their original press release justifying the compulsory acquisition. The land was acquired for a public purpose and then vested in a private company. Government says it fulfills the public purpose of getting Belize a cruise port. The NUTCB doesn't agree:
Glenfield Dennison, Labour Senator
"The questions that we raised in our letter go to the root of clarifying whether it's a public purpose, because we are not saying we're right. We're saying that, if you are clear about what these questions are, then you would be you would be sound in your in your position that it is a public purpose. So whether or not it is, that's for Mr. Feinstein and his litigation. But in my mind and in the trade union, in the view of the Trade Union Congress, it isn't a public purpose."
"I just don't know that it is worth the intervention of the government because I don't think it's a simple case before the court, but it's definitely not a complex issue."
"So there's also the option of doing nothing until that that goes through."
Jules Vasquez:
"Urgency sir."
Glenfield Dennison, Senator
"I, I get the I get the call for urgency. I, I don't share the view. The, the situation with the cruise industry has been, has been known for quite a while now and it's now all of a sudden they've put Mr. Feinstein through quite a bit. And now it's urgent that the court finishes this thing. So we can agree to, I can disagree with the government on that one."
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