Lawsuit considered

If come September 1, the Ministry of Education has still not reinstated the pay it docked from teachers who attended two meetings held by the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) earlier this year, the BUT’s President said he personally intends to have the law courts intervene.

“We only need one individual, and I am prepared as President of the Barbados Union of Teachers to take this matter to court,” President Pedro Shepherd told the media yesterday, as he and members of his Executive converged on the playing field across from the Ministry of Education, to stage a protest against that decision which he indicated affects as many as 700 teachers.

Shepherd explained that he has the blessing of the Union to pursue the private lawsuit, as they recognise that a class action suit is one that would be costly, and take an inordinate length of time to have settled.

His comments came as he noted that he would rather a teacher be the one to bring the suit against the Ministry of Education, because as president of the union, he should be afforded some protection. Nevertheless, Shepherd contended he is more than willing to be the one to seek clarification on the matter from the court, in an effort to bring it to a close once and for all.  

“As president of the union, I found it extremely strange that using my position as president and calling a meeting of my membership, that my salary would have been docked for two days,” he stated.
To that end, he indicated that they are not only taking issue with the decision to dock teachers’ pay, but the amount that was cut as well.

“We have a fundamental problem with the docking of pay for two full days, when the letter from the Permanent Secretary, written on 6th of May, said that they would proportionately abate the salaries of all persons who attended the meeting. Proportionately abate salaries says to me that they are going to take out for the time that you were away from work. How then can you take out for an entire day?” he queried.

The BUT president added, “The letter said that they were going to take it out in May. They took it out in May, they took some in June, and I got calls from teachers after the July pay date that they also took some in July.”

He is suggesting that another discrepancy is that some principals are yet to submit the information to the Ministry of Education. If this is so, he said that teachers are likely to see slimmer pay packs in August and September as well. He explained that on average, teachers affected are losing about $330 each. With that in mind, he is adamant that there are too many discrepancies with the salary deductions, which he suggested “borders on being illegal”, and as such, he vowed that until the issues can be resolved, the BUT is going to continue to fight the matter.

“The Ministry said that they had to spread the deductions over a two-month period, because teachers’ salaries could not afford the deductions in a single month, and what they even did was to garnish people’s mortgage payments, which is a serious thing. We have to get to the bottom of this; somebody has to answer – the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry has to answer or the Minister of the Civil Service has to answer the Barbados Union of Teachers in relation to resolving this particular matter,” he said.

But, the union boss made it clear that the court was not the only route the union was willing to take, to ensure that their concern is heard and their pay reinstated. Hinting at possible industrial action, Shepherd disclosed that he has met with President of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union, Mary Ann Redman, and they have agreed to put “plans in place” in the early part of September, and they have also been promised support from the National Union of Public Workers.

“We are hoping that it does not get to that. We are hoping that the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, between her and the Minister of Civil Service, can meet, discuss this matter, and come to some reasonable decision [or] conclusion, and restore the salaries of teachers,” he added. (JRT)