PM Briceño Pressed To Address Workplace Labor Disputes

The Christian Workers Union is demanding that Prime Minister John Briceño rein in employers it accuses of disregarding labor laws and undermining workers’ rights. The union is pointing to its ongoing clashes with the Belmopan City Council and hinting at another government entity whose troubled relationship with workers resembles the labor disputes it once faced at the Port of Belize. But while CWU welcomes the Port’s new management, its president says other employers need to change course, and some may even need new leadership.

 

Leonora Flowers, President, Christian Workers Union

“We have an employer, more than one, but one specific coming directly under the government, and we would hope that they would take some lessons from what occurred at the PBL. Come to heel. Recognize that you are not above the law as you think as an employer. And I’ll say this directly to the Ministry of Finance, to the Prime Minister of Belize. Please, Prime Minister, do what you need to do to the people who you govern and who represent our members. Last May, as you know I had three years and I’ve been selected again for another three. I wouldn’t do anything different when it comes to being the president. I would do a lot different if I could, where people are concerned, and especially those employers who seek to undermine our activity, our union activities, and those employers who seek to take advantage of the working Belizean man, especially those who are our members. But this is a call to let them know that we’re not going to be sitting idly by and let these incursions on the labor law and on all the affording and attending articles of our CBA.”

 

Ella Waight, Vice President, Christian Workers Union

“Without calling name, but if you go back into the history of cases CWU recently won, I’ll give you a hint, that will show which entity we’re talking about. If that would change at that entity, I think the relationship when it comes to ensuring that the members that we, when we negotiate for the members, that they get the best out of it. If that leadership would change, we’ll be talking about a different situation around this table than saying we have dealt with that entity. It has actually gone to where we had had to go to the labor department to an ESAT, all of that, with that entity, and we are still having issues there. Maybe leadership needs a change. Just a suggestion.”

 

In September, the Essential Services Arbitration Tribunal found that the Central Bank of Belize unfairly dismissed longtime employee Dapheen Bowen after failing to follow the disciplinary procedures in its Collective Bargaining Agreement.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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