CWU Frustrated by Delays in Arbitration Tribunal Amid Port Dispute

The Christian Workers Union (CWU) says that it has gone more than a month without hearing from the Essential Services Arbitration Tribunal (ESAT), which should be mediating its dispute with the Port of Belize Limited (PBL). The CWU and the PBL have been at odds over the past few years over a number of labour issues, including the finalization of a collective bargaining agreement and overdue payments. The CWU was hoping that the government’s nationalization of the port in December 2023 would have brought an end to those issues. However, the CWU said it is more of the same.  In January, the union issued a 21-day notice of intended strike action, prompting the reactivation of the ESAT. President of the CWU Leonora Flowers told Love News that stevedores continue to work because they need to make a living, but currently, the situation is in limbo.

Leonora Flowers, President, CWU: “It’s been many weeks now and we’ve not heard anything from the ESAT. We are awaiting a response from them for both parties to enter discussions with them but we are waiting their formal response. We’ve heard absolutely nothing out of the chair or the panel to this date. We’re in limbo. Everything is in abeyance because we can’t do any action until and unless the ESAT rules and that has not happened. No order has been received from the ESAT and so we’re waiting for that. We know that we have put in our submission, the other party the PPL has put in their submission, to date there has been no response to us formal, nothing. They had given us I think there were ten days that they were supposed to provide a response but that time has passed and we are still waiting. The legislation allows the panel to set their timelines and they have done that and we have abided so it hasn’t occurred yet. In the first instance we had gotten a week to provide our submissions, we needed attorney assistance and so we referred that to them that we needed an attorney to assist us and that assistance came and we provided our response within ten days instead of the five but that had gone in and the other side also go sufficient and enough reasonable time to submit, there was no problem there they had submitted. So submissions have been made we’re only waiting for the chair to call us back to the table to have the actual mediation I would say, the actual discussions and so they will sit and prepare their order. Work continues. Definitely the port is continuing, work continues, it’s a growing concern and our members need to work, they need to earn so work continues. There is a stay on everything, industrial action there is a stay on everything, work definitely continues.”

In February, the CWU questioned whether or not the government was negotiating in good faith, since there are no audited financials for the PBL available for review. The union also questions how impartial the five-member committee can really be when three of the five members, including the minister, are appointed by the government