Education Minister Alfred Sears and executives of the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) are scheduled to head back to the negotiating table today after squaring off last week over the “industrial action” staged by hundreds of public school teachers.
In an interview with the Bahama Journal yesterday, Minister Sears expressed optimism that things would go well when the two parties meet in another attempt to finally conclude negotiations on a new industrial agreement for some 3,500 BUT members.
“I am confident that we will make good progress and settle a collective bargaining agreement to improve the education system, the terms and conditions of employment and service of our educators as well as the educational process and the performance of our students,” Mr. Sears said.
Public schools were shut down early on Friday as teachers continued their standoff.
BUT President Ida Poitier-Turnquest however denied knowledge of any kind of industrial unrest when she spoke with The Bahama Journal.
Government negotiators and union executives have been negotiating for months, but have failed to reach an agreement on several contentious issues, chief among them the unionﾒs bargaining unit and its recognition agreement.
“The government side continues to attempt to vary our bargaining unit,” the union president said.
“At the beginning, it was that we could not negotiate for librarians, guidance counselors and administrators. They have backed down on the librarians and the guidance counselors, but they are still saying that we cannot negotiate for administrators and that is the point that we are at.
“We cannot negotiate any clauses in the collective bargaining agreement until we know who we are negotiating for.”
As it relates to salary increases, the teachersﾒ union is demanding pay hikes over a three-year period that would amount to approximately $56 million.
But the government has said this is unreasonable and is instead offering raises that would be in line with what was received by public servants whose contract was signed with the government last November.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Perry Christie met with union executives at his Cable Beach office in another attempt to speed up for the process.
Before heading back to the classrooms yesterday, close to 500 union members flooded the BUTﾒs headquarters on Bethel Avenue to hear the outcome of that meeting.
According to Mrs. Poitier-Turnquest, the prime minister has asked for a “few” hours to investigate the matter and get the negotiations “back on track.”
“It was a productive meetingﾅHe asked what issues in the negotiations were problematic and thatﾒs what we discussed, and he promised to intervene so that we can get the negotiations moving,” said the BUT president, refusing to reveal any details about the unionﾒs reaction to the prime ministerﾒs proposition.
Despite the tension, the union president said, “I do believe that the negotiations will go forward. I have great hope for that.”
Mrs. Poitier-Turnquest has however opted not to disclose what move her union will take pending the outcome of todayﾒs meeting.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
