BUT raises several issues

THE Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) has raised concern about several issues, includ- ing the disciplinary charges brought against its two mem- bers who contested the January general elections.
Delivering remarks during the virtual opening ceremony of the BUT’s 48th Annual General Conference yesterday morning, President Rudy Lovell described the actions taken against Alwyn Babb, a track and field coach who ran in St. Peter, and Pedro Shepherd, former President of the Barbados Union of Teachers, who contested the St. Michael South East seat as “discriminatory”. His comments came as he indicated that some years back, the Union had made representation to the Ministry of the Public Service on the matter of teachers participating in elections, and he said they are still desirous of having the issue ventilated.
“...Over 10 years ago, the BUT had proposed in a draft collective bargaining agreement that teachers with at least, and I quote “three years standing in the Union shall on application, be granted leave of absence to contest general elections for the House of Assembly”. This leave would be without pay. However, to date, the Union has not concluded its discussions with the Ministry of the Public Service,” he said.
Lovell added, “Therefore, this matter was never settled. The Union is hopeful that this collective bargaining agreement can receive a favourable response from the Ministry of the Public Service.”
He also told those in the virtual audience that the Union has lodged an official complaint with the Head of the Public Service, Dr. Louis Woodroffe, against the Minister of Education. Lovell explained that the Union is concerned that during the discussion regarding the return to face-to-face classes, the Minister of Education engaged in dialogue with workers while the dia- logue with workers’ repre- sentatives was ongoing. He suggested that it could be seen as an attempt to obstruct the power of unions.
“The BUT is opposed to this practice, and has lodged an official complaint with the Head of the Public Service, Dr. Louis Woodroffe, on the 4th of March 2022 during a meeting with the Ministry of Public Service and trade unions. Rest assured that the BUT will follow up on this complaint,” he said.
He also expressed con- cern that while the Union met with the Ministry of Education about matters unrelated to COVID-19, the meeting was too short and did not allow for full ventilation of the issues.
“...Please note that only one hour and 30 minutes were allocated to the BUT to ventilate our issues. We are hopeful we can return to previous times, when meetings would last more
than three hours to allow for full discourse on the issues at hand,” Lovell stated.
Lovell also said that the issue of seniority in the Teaching Service continues to be problematic and was made worse by the implementation of the 2016 Public Service (Qualifications) Order. He said no one knows who is senior to whom or how seniority is arrived at for acting positions. As such, he said the BUT has formally asked the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education to provide clarity on sen- iority in the teaching serv- ice, and he is hopeful that the information will be provided soon.
He also touched on the announcements of proposed changes to the Education Act, the abolition of the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination, and the proposed Junior Academies and Academies of Excellence. According to Lovell, during a recent meeting, the Union was informed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Betty Alleyne-Headley, that there is no formal policy on education to date and that it is still a work-in- progress.
“The Permanent Secretary, along with Dr. Idamay Denny, Director of Education Reform, noted that a Green Paper is being prepared and first must be approved by the Cabinet of Barbados. They assured the BUT
Executive that consultation will be forthcoming and will contribute to the formation of the final doc- ument, which will be a White Paper,” he said.
Noting that the Union is keen to have input on these matters, he said the BUT’s Education Reform Committee intends to create a research paper on education reform, which will provide information for their dialogue with the ministry when that time comes.