NO BACKING DOWN

The Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) is making it clear that the restoration of the monies of members whose salaries were docked last year, after they attended two union meetings, remains one of its priorities, and its president has even hinted at possible strike action in an effort to have the matter resolved.

President of the Union, Pedro Shepherd, speaking yesterday at the opening of the Union’s 43rd Annual General Conference at Almond Bay Conference Centre, said the meetings which were called to address pertinent issues regarding teachers, including student on teacher violence as well as health and safety in the workplace, saw teachers being penalised for exercising their right to freedom of assembly and association – principles, which he contends, are at the foundation of the trade union movement.

He further suggested to the audience, which included Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Senator Harcourt Husbands, that the action taken by the Ministry to dock the pay of teachers was not only provocative, discriminatory, unfair and unjustifiable, but illegal. Furthermore, the teacher contended that what is even worse, is that to date the Ministry has failed to provide a sound reason for its decision.

“It is now seemingly resting in the fact that it is awaiting the Solicitor’s [General] advice on the legality of its actions, after having made teachers’ mortgage payments and car loans go into arrears…

“We did not threaten to shutdown our schools; instead we took the high road and wrote the Permanent Secretary several letters on the matter seeking restoration. We met with the Ministry of Education once on the matter… We then met with the Prime Minister together with the Permanent Secretary and the Chief Education Officer,” he said.
Furthermore, “We’ve sought several legal opinions, both pro bono and paid, regarding the legality of the abatement of the salaries. Would the BUT be unjustified in calling out its members on this matter after 11 months of making a case for common sense to prevail? Stay tuned,” he promised.

Shepherd is adamant that the Union is not letting the issue die, even though he said this may have been the want of the Ministry.

“Clearly when the Ministry told us that they sent off the information to the Solicitor General for her advice, and all the subsequent pronouncements by the Minister of Education and some of his Cabinet colleagues, we were supposed to forget the issue and pronounce it dead, never to be resurrected and thus see it as our blood, shed for our sins of wanting a hearing, due process, respect, fairness and justice from the employer,” he said.

Relating the issue to the Easter story, Shepherd said even though the matter spent several months “lying in the tomb”, either at the Ministry of the Solicitor General’s office, like Jesus Christ, it is not dead.
“In fact, it has arisen, and it is as alive today as it was in May last year, and forever and forever will be fought to the bitter end,” he maintained. (JRT)