The BEL union won't strike. A deal was reached this afternoon – after a tough night of negotiation at the ministry of labour in Belmopan. It got so tough that one side walked out – and the other ended up staying until three in the morning. And even after all of that – they still didn't sign the agreement! The General Secretary of the union told us about it today:…

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU

"Eventually I think management walked out; or the person that they had there representing walked out, we're not sure what happened. But the agreement was in essence between the government of Belize and the trade union; the government of Belize being the owner in a sense of the company. That's where we stand. We thought that at that point in time that it would be better to have that than to have nothing at all and come back empty handed and start at square one. This morning we believe that we should have some sort of compromise coming from the government as well in regards to what the board intends to do with it. It is there, we will know for sure that what we pen down last night will be accepted because it has to go to the board. Once it is agreed by the board then we have an agreement in essence. Everything after that will just be formalities."

Jules Vasquez

"So you all have signed to it?"

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU

"Yes we did."

Jules Vasquez

"Management has not?"

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU

"Not really, management has not; as far as we are concerned."

Mike Rudon - Channel 5 News

"What is different at this point if management still has not agreed to anything that is on the table?"

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU

"The difference is huge because as far as we are concerned back when we were at mediation the chairman of the board was not in agreement. But with the prime minister's intervention, some flexibility from the union, he was able to agree with everything that we had on the document."

Mike Rudon - Channel 5 News

"Has your membership given you any kind of deadline as to when you expect something signed and returned?"

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU

"Well actually the information we received set the deadline for today. So obviously if today we don't see any movement coming from the board, that means that whatever happened last night was not serious and the union stands ready to continue with their plan. So far all indication are that indeed we might have an agreement coming from the board."

Jules Vasquez

"How did the meeting with the prime minster go yesterday? And first what was the importance of his input?"

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU

"Indeed the prime minister does have more leverage because like I said, he is the embodiment of the owner of BEL. He is the head of government."

Jules Vasquez

"So then if he spoke as the unofficial representative of the majority shareholder, then shouldn't it have just been a simple sign off thing? Shouldn't management of BEL simply said, well the owner has spoken and so it is what it is? Why then wasn't there this signing at 7 o'clock like what BEL had promised in a very free spoken press release?"

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU

"I'm glad that you asked that question but I think that question should be redirected to the management of BEL. I cannot comment as to what their reasoning was."

But that standoff didn't last much longer – by 5:30 BEL sent out a press release saying that they had signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Belize Energy Workers Union. Included are the four basic amendments worked out by the Prime Minister – led off by an across the board salary increase which Mora outlined for us today.

Mike Rudon - Channel 5 News

"Tell us concretely exactly what there agreement is about in terms of figures for the union?"

Marvin Mora, General Secretary - BEWU

"Sure definitely; the first item we agreed upon was the across the board increase. We had requested at 2% but the minister even in mediation had suggested 1.75."

So, apart from that 1.75% yearly across the board salary increase,

the Company will match the contribution of all employees paying 10% of their salary into the BEL Pension Fund.

This is just an interim agreement which should – in the words of the release – "pave the way" for completion of negotiations for a revised Collective Agreement in the coming weeks.