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Finding Common Ground In BEL Labour Dispute
posted (August 24, 2015)
About a month ago, workers from BEL's Energy Workers Union, were using their lunch break to picket their company's management. To hear them tell it, management was playing hardball at the negotiating table, refusing to give an across the board 8% pay raise for staff.

Since then, Labour Minister Godwin Hulse stepped in as the go-between for the Union and the management. So, how close, or far are both sides now? That's what we asked the Union Representative and the Labour Commissioner today:

Marvin Mora - General Secretar, BEWU
"One of the things that we have seen happening over the past days is that we have not received any update coming from the ministry as to his proposal that he laid on the table for BEL management and the board to consider. We are awaiting word from them as to whether or not that was accepted, what was accepted, so that we can be able to quantify and present that to our membership for their approval as well. If that is done in a timely manner, then we could resolve this issue probably in the next couple of weeks. But either management or the minister keep dragging their foot on the issue - they have to remember that the union itself has its own mechanisms that we have to activate in order for us to get some sort of agreement coming from the membership."

Daniel Ortiz
"Is the environment now that the labor minister has intervene, still that standoff-ish - we won't move from our perspective positions?"

Marvin Mora - General Secretar, BEWU
"In a sense it is not that way. But in a sense also we have been able to prove our position to the minister and to basically show him why it is that the union acted the way it has acted and why it is what we are requesting and demanding that we be treated fairly within the context of that agreement. However, all I can tell you so far is that we are trying our best to be as flexible as possible, but we also believe that we have been more than flexible."

Ivan Williams - Labour Commissioner
"There have been much progress and I believe there is a few other matters as we speak which are yet outstanding which very shortly the ministry will be meeting the parties and we will see how things goes from there. I don't want to comment much on the process."

Reporter
"However, would you say it's an amicable atmosphere?"

Ivan Williams - Labour Commissioner
"Yes it is and I was on leave and I am now back and my understanding is that much progress have been made."

Neither of them would hazard a guess or a tentative timeline for the resolution of this issue.

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