Union supports terminated gas turbine workers

Henry Balan
(BEWU president)

Friday, May 16, 2014. AARON HUMES Reporting: Belize Electricity Limited, still owned by the Government, has been grappling with the issue of four employees which work at the Mile 8 George Price Highway gas turbine facility.

It is a key operation needed to power Belize City up after blackouts but the company says it does not need manual assistance to run.

The Union disagrees, but the four workers are expected to be sent home as of tomorrow, Saturday, May 17.

Today the Belize Energy Workers Union (BEWU) led employees in a show of solidarity outside the company’s Philip Goldson Highway offices.

Union President Henry Balan says the workers were not treated fairly, as the Union was slated to meet with the Board of Directors ten days from now.

Balan says the company misrepresented the 2012 agreement it signed with the Union and Labour Commissioner Ivan Williams.

He insists that the Union was never in agreement with the remote operation of the turbine as manual labour would still be needed if the system does not work.

Additionally, he says the company agreed to find work elsewhere in the system for the workers as they were made redundant, but the company claims they rejected their offers for retraining. Balan says any talk of industrial action will be left to members of the Union to decide.

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