7 News Belize

More Details On BEWU VS. BTL
posted (May 8, 2012)
Last night we told you about the pre-mediation meeting that the Labor Commissioner Convened with the Management of BEL and the Belize Energy Workers Union.

Coming out of the talks both sides agreed to revert to the status quo, to stick to the Partnership collective agreement and to start a formal mediation process by tomorrow.

But, tonight we'll revisit that 6:00 pm press conference to specifically examine some of the issues that had come up in the two weeks of public agitation between union and management.

First, off the Labour Commissioner confirmed that the Energy Workers di withdraw their labour this weekend - meaning that workers who were on call turned off their radios.

He said that move lent the talks some urgency:..

Reporter
"Was there a strike that would have made it abnormal?"

Ivan Williams - Labour Commissioner
"No, my understanding is that certain employees at the company were not showing up for standby on certain hours that were expected of them. Those persons will no longer be withholding their labour. They will continue to be on standby and show up when required to ensure that there is electricity to the country, particularly, where there might be situation where there is a power failure."

Williams also discussed the fate of seven workers: three who were terminated and four who were declared redundant. He explained what will happen with those seven employees:

Ivan Williams
"We have agreed that those persons who are - I'd want to say - are engaged in certain industrial actions, that management should not move to take any sort of disciplinary action against them. That is one of the issues on the table for discussion, so it is only fair that we fully ventilate and hear those issues."

Reporter
"I was actually referring to 4 workers at the gas turbine plant that BEL allegedly made their positions redundant. This is before this whole set of other circumstances."

Ivan Williams
"Like I said, those issues - for which I don't want to go into details - but I will repeat, whatever actions are pending that is likely to cause further deterioration in the relationship - or as I put it - aggravates the situation, all have agreed that they will be put in abeyance, and give the mediation process a chance to work."

And Williams also discussed what will be happening in the next few weeks.

Ivan Williams
"We can - in a very short period of time - conclude, and hopefully come to an agreement where the parties sign a memorandum of understanding in terms of how they are going to treat each other and address the issues for which they have differences at this stage."

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