Email

Print

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU
"In essence we realize that everybody is in the same boat. Because we are having problems as well through our collective bargaining as you all know and it seems that the disrespect towards the employees from employers continues and we want the government to step in and to do what is right."

Jules Vasquez
"We know the confluence of events that lead to the unrest of 2005. We had the Communication Workers Union first, we had the Energy Workers Union after and that a lot of things fell apart after that. Are we at that stage yet or are you guys still at a level where you all are willing to listen to the attempts of the government to try to intervene and resolve?"

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU
"We are always listening. We problem is that when we are listening, what we are hearing is not coming up to speed."

We also asked Mora about where things stand with his union in the ongoing negotiations with BEL management for an across the board increase. On September third the union sent the Labor Minister a letter threatening industrial action. Two weeks have passed since then and we asked if they are closer to activating that ultimatum:..

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU
"The BEWU in regards to our issues, we are very close to industrial action. And we are hoping that at the end of the day we can get a quick resolution on our issues and we can get a very fair collective bargaining that benefits everybody."

Jules Vasquez
"Is there any indication that management has budge, is willing to meet you all half way? In the last letter to Minister of Labor, you said that you felt that management was being intransigent?"

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU
"At this point in time I can't comment too much on it, because it's still within the mediation with the ministry. But what I can tell you is that we've seen some movement, but not really on behalf of management."