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President of the CWU Audrey Matura Shepherd said her members had gotten, quote, "a royal Christmas bukkut." Well, not surprisingly, the Port of Belize had a very different take on that today. Port CEO Arturo Tux Vasquez said Matura went too far, and he responded today by going further than he's ever gone before: he told us how much stevedores make annually - and suggested that there's no reason they should be complaining:...

Arturo "Tux" Vasquez, CEO, Port of Belize
"To be honest I actually had to sit and take notes, looking at the news to make sure that I cover everything because I think that perhaps this time the interviews have gone too far. I go to a quotation she said about poor workers with less benefits. On an average a stevedore works around 40-70 days for the year and earns approximately an average of $35,000 per annum. She then goes on to say stevedores haven't gotten a million dollars, not even half a million dollars nor a quarter million dollars for 2015. It's unfortunate that some people speak without proper information to be honest. I must say that. Christmas bonus alone for 2015 while they were on strike, the Port paid a total of $275,000 in Christmas bonus only to stevedores. Let's talk about salaries and allowance for 2015. Jules, this totals to 5.5 million dollars. I repeat that - 5.5 million dollars and if you look at 2014 and 2013, it would be around that too. I would like to make a comparison on an average company and see what their annual salaries are - total salaries paid - 5.5 million dollars paid. Again, remember, these workers only work for 40-70 days for the year."

"She refers to all entities that are essential services like BEL. BTL. Social Security, BWS where workers get immediate rights under the law. The traditional way that stevedores gang operates is exactly why they cannot compare themselves to full time employees. In our negotiations we have made that point several times. There are ways of giving the gangs rights under the law, but they will have to change the system of rotation. The current rotation is very much in the benefit financially especially and that is the reason why they want to hold on to that system. They will work a ship until it's finished. There is a big paycheck and they return a month or two later on. That's by choice. We would like to provide full time employment, system way they would qualify for immediate rights under the law. But do they really want that? That is something I think I need to put directly to the head on the union today when I meet with her - if that is what you want, that is not very hard to move into a system where people are fully employed. They have to be at work every day like everybody else. They have to report to work, if not they have to provide a medical paper."

"Then she refers to according to the financials from BSI/ASR 2.4 million dollars was paid to stevedores alone and she wants to know where that went. Very simple Ms. Matura, a part of the 5.5 million dollars paid in salaries, strictly salaries. That was paid strictly to stevedores. And finally I would like to comment on the personal attacks that she has made to me over the last couple weeks - calls me a liar. I backtrack on my information. Now I am a two-headed snake in her press release. And that port has no intention of establishing a CBA. Again I repeat, the port has never removed itself from the negotiating table, never. I am happy to know that even though she thinks that I am not genuine, she is still prepared to come back to the table. And I am also interested in getting it done and for me I know that I have all good faith in completing the CBA and also have good faith in giving the stevedores the best that I can."

The Port and the CWU Negotiating team met this evening to continue discussions about their collective bargaining agreement. And, by any reckoning, the Port enters that negotiation empowered because with the new law, the stevedores have lost the leverage to spontaneously strike - which always tips things in their favour. And so now it would seemed to have tipped back in favour of the Port. Vasquez says that sounds about right to him:...

Jules Vasquez
"Do you feel that the ports' bargaining position is stronger because of this?"

Arturo "Tux" Vasquez, CEO, Port of Belize
"What it allows me time to negotiate. It allows me time to reconsider my positions. I did not have that before. So I want to think that the last incident brought us very close to in my terms, a national issue and I think that perhaps what that triggered was the fact of people looking back and saying maybe on the government side that this is something that has to be done. I know that the Port Authority is under essential service. When the Port Authority was privatized to the Port of Belize, the services remained the same. So perhaps that is when it was an oversight. As it is right now the pilots are essential service and the security are an essential service. So if the pilot is essential service who needs to bring in the ship, why the offloading isn't an essential service? You will get the ship all the way to the dock and then you are unable to... So I am thinking maybe it was an oversight and I want to think that perhaps the last incidents may have triggered people to think and say this needs to be done."

Jules Vasquez
"Are you concerned about a possible blowback? Everyone wants harmonious industrial relations, but now that the stevedores are being sort of, they feel cornered by the government in concert with the Port of Belize. Are you concern that there may be a blowback?"

Arturo "Tux" Vasquez, CEO, Port of Belize
"Yes, there is always that concern and again, listening to the president yesterday, she made a reference to the fact that while there are laws in place, she cannot speak for the stevedores. So, yes there is a concern."

"We have now establish contingencies in place. We don't know what to expect, but we certainly need to be prepared in the event that there is a spontaneous strike again. The Port is now in a position and I think we have all right that if you are not prepared to do the job, we have a right to get somebody else to do the job. She also refer to that in her comments and she actually made it sound as it is something that it is wrong to be done. But if there is a job to be done and you are not prepared to do it, I as the employer should be able to get that job done by someone else."

"Let's look at the history; chicken they don't want, the food they don't want - they strike. Water they don't want, they strike. The other day they strike because no advance payment was made to them. I mean these are things that maybe it's for the public interest. There is too many minor things that stevedores will strike for. While yes, they have a right to strike like anybody else. I've been reading comments on the news as well were people are saying don't you understand these people have a right to strike. Yes, you have a right to strike. But we are in negotiations and in negotiations you want to have proper dialogue, because negotiations is about give and take. But you can't expect me to be considering other alternatives if you have a gun to my head."

Jules Vasquez
"Are you willing to entertain that you might be seen that from a somewhat warp perspective, in so far as you are the king of the port, we can't hold a gun to your head. If we hold a gun, we will not even reach your ankle Mr. Tux. You can see how the stevedores might be saying it's you who have the economic power in this relationship. It's us who depend on you and it's you who stand to disenfranchise us of our only means of making a living. So in fact it's you who have the foot - you are about to crush us with your foot."

Arturo "Tux" Vasquez, CEO, Port of Belize
"Well the stevedores are the ones that have always said that they are also essential to the port. I maybe the king of the port as you put it, but I certainly cannot survive without the stevedores."

Jules Vasquez
"If they don't want to load and off load because they feel the terms of work are unjust, they don't have the power to immobile the legal power. They don't have the power to lawfully immobilize the port as they did in the past. So then overall it works out in your favor - the legislation."

Arturo "Tux" Vasquez, CEO, Port of Belize
"It works out in favor of everybody who uses the port, not only for me. It works out for everybody who uses the port. If the port shuts down, everything shuts down. We saw a bit of it over the last couple of weeks. So I think the legislation is there not to benefit only me and my negotiations, it's there to benefit the users of the port; the importers, the exporters, the customers, people who are waiting for their stuff. We can't be held ransom just by a group of people. The country can't be held ransom as such."

Today's negotiation session on the collective bargaining agreement went on as planned, but president Matura - Shepherd didn't show up.