But regardless of who should have ownership of PBL, the Christian Workers Union just wants to know one thing: when will the Port comply with the ruling of the Essential Services Tribunal?
As we've told you, it's been over a year since the ruling and PBL has still not come to the table to negotiate a redundancy package after the sugar ships began heading south. Last week, the two parties met with the Minister of Labor in the middle, but they couldn't say much about the results of that meeting.
Today, however, the CWU held a press conference where they say they were outright bamboozled. They claim they were lured to the meeting under the pretence that negotiations would start, but once they got there, they said PBL switched up on them. Now, they're not sure the company will ever comply with the ruling.
Evan "Mose" Hyde, Former President, CWU
"That meeting came out of a letter written to us from PBL in which they indicated that they were willing to get around the table to comply with the ESAT ruling and so as you can expect, we were very encouraged by that and we had a certain level of expectations that we would actually start to have a meaningful dialogue. That meeting was held at the Biltmore, you guys will recall, and immediately, unfortunately, once the meeting started, which at the time that meeting was coordinated and we had the presence of the full team from the Ministry of Labor, we had a scenario where it appeared to us that PBL management had no interest in complying with the letter that they wrote to us the day before."
"You say we are going to come and ESAT and we get here and it's not like that. Obviously there is a whiplash involved with that but the team voted, hey, we'll stay in the meeting. As a result of staying in the meeting, the indication or the deadline that was given by the Ministry of Labor to PBL was to say, hey, you said you were going to negotiate so we give you until Monday since it is you say that you need to meet with your big people and your financial people so then Monday is a fair time for you to present a counter proposal to CWU and the stevedores. Monday came and again what was sent was just a repeat of their position and no compliance with the directive that they were given. They were responded to by the relevant authorities in the Ministry of Labor to say hey, you need to comply with this, and later on that week, they responded in a very, in our view, aggressive manner saying that this was not going to happen and repeated their hardline position and challenged the Ministry of Labor on whether or not they were being biased."
"The energy in that letter indicates to us that PBL management under no circumstances will comply with the ESAT and our team recognizes as well even though we now have the participation of the Ministry of Labor, 1, it doesn't appear that PBL feels that the Ministry of Labor has any ability or any interest to really bring any pressure on them and it doesn't appear that the Ministry of Labor, at least since that letter had been written, we have seen nothing to indicate that they are going to back the directive that they gave in that meeting."
Still, the CWU says they're not resorting to drastic measures just yet. And while GOB had suggested that the union take PBL to court, the new union president, Leonora Flowers, explained that they shouldn't have to do that to enforce it, and that the government should have stepped in by now.
Evan "Mose" Hyde, Former President, CWU
"I think the members are aware of the options they would have to look at and we don't want to get ahead of ourselves as it relates to that conversation that we will have with our members, I think obviously, the options are limited, they are not options that we preferred, the options that we hoped for and have been hoping for and continue to hope for is that we get around the table and we comply with the ESAT ruling and we come to a compromised position of something that is fair and just to all parties. That is what we prefer but that is the option that has been rudely turned down and now we are limited to just a couple options, we will obviously guide but obviously take the position of our members on this matter so that's the sacred matter of union work, how we get consensus and directions from the members, because they're the bosses."
Leonora Flowers, President, CWU
"The legislation says that the decision of tribunal is final so we are not going to take that tribunal decision to court. The legislation does say that the minister is the one the formulates that tribunal it's under that legislation and so that has been done and the decision has been handed down and it says that that is final so that is where we are."
"We would've hoped that by this time, the government would have stepped up and said, you need to abide by the ruling of the tribunal, we have waiting all these months and that has not occurred, that is what has us here today, even at this late hour, there has been lukewarm response to move towards having PBL be mindful of what the tribunal says, there has been no solid interference from the government."
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