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And so they took it that today would be their last day of work - since the new arrangement comes into effect tomorrow. But….never underestimate the power of a press conference! CWU President Audrey Matura Shepherd never does and that may have been a difference maker. She told us how the dim prospects for the workers started to lighten up this morning:...

Audrey Matura Shepherd, President - CWU
"The labour commissioner calls the CWU office this morning and quickly informs that he had gotten all the correspondence. He was away apparently out of office for a while and he assured us that he would intervene because based on what he was seeing the Belize City Council had not comply with their statutory obligations to give all the notices they should. We even inquire if he got any notice as the labour commissioner and we found out that he did not get any notice. So, you have to understand that not only should the union be told but you must consult with the labour commissioner; send them the list with all the people that will be affected and let them know what is happening."

"When he told us that, that is very good news and thereafter we understand that he did called the City Hall and he went in person and spoke with the city administrator who had that point had inform that she could not agree ir do anything because the mayor was out, but the commissioner was very persistent and this afternoon about 2:45 he called me with very good news where he said that the city administrator and the deputy mayor had been able to persuade the mayor to put off the termination that was effective today - to put it off until we can meet. It's not like put it off indefinitely until a specific time - until we can meet and the labour commissioner can properly intervene. He informed us that Monday morning he will be having a meeting with the council to review with them the laws so that they know what are their obligations to review the procedures they followed and thereafter a meeting with the union will follow and if all goes well then there should be a meeting involving all parties, so that we come up with a plan or a procedure that we follow to start negotiating for the workers."

Jules Vasquez
"However, one has the sense that while it is an excellent victory, its only short term and you have only stall it inevitable."

Audrey Matura Shepherd, President - CWU
"It is not short term because the truth is that the security officers, if they are told they have to be redundant they don't have a problem with that. The problem is that you are saying that some of them will be kept on. Nobody has worked any terms for them. You've been as to go blindly into something you don't even know what their terms are. Some of them will not be taken on, but there is always the option to absorb them into other departments of the council. That hasn't even been discussed yet and in some instances the calculation of their benefits are inaccurate, so we need to help with that. In the final analysis, if there are those who will not be taken aboard at all, the union has the ability to negotiate a redundancy package with any employer to ease the blow for them and so we are just hoping that whatever options we have for the different people that it be a open and fair one."

So, the meeting to plan the way forward is set for Monday 3rd February, at 8:30 a.m. at the City Hall. On Monday night We'll tell you what came out of it.