Public schools were shut down early on Friday as teachers continue to lock horns with the government over a new industrial agreement.
That came a day after what Education Minister Alfred Sears called “illegal action”, after some teachers abandoned their classrooms on Thursday.
From around noon on Friday, school officials had allowed students to leave some of the campuses, and parents had to rearrange their schedules to do pickups.
But Bahamas Union of Teachers President Ida Poitier-Turnquest had denied knowledge of any kind of industrial unrest when she spoke with The Bahama Journal.
Asked about the Friday sit-outs, she said, “Iﾒll check into that.” She later said all teachers had reported to work.
She insisted, meanwhile, that what happened on Thursday was not illegal action. Minister Sears had said the teachers “rudely interrupted” a meeting that was taking place between BUT officials and government negotiators at the Bishop Michael Eldon Complex.
“If teachers were there they were there to express their frustrations at the slow pace or the non-movement of the negotiations,” Mrs. Poitier-Turnquest said.
Both sides have been negotiating since earlier this year and have been failing to see eye to eye on several issues. Firstly, the teachersﾒ union is demanding pay increases over a three-year period that would amount to approximately $56 million.
The government has said this is not reasonable 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.
Last Thursday, Minister Sears indicated that the government was not prepared to tolerate any further illegal action from teachers and said that their pay would be cut in accordance with the law.
But Mrs. Poitier-Turnquest said she doubted the minister will follow through on this statement, and she accused the government of seeking to “intimidate” the teachers.
“I donﾒt think Minister Sears will do any cutting of their salaries,” she said. “I think he will probably consider it, but Iﾒm sure he will not do what was insinuated in his press release.”
Asked what would happen if the salaries are cut, Mrs. Poitier-Turnquest said, “The union will do what it has to do.” But she declined to say exactly what that would be.
She also said that the negotiations had not yet begun in earnest as the union and the government were still failing to agree on who should be covered by the agreement.
“The negotiations right now are still at a sticking point,” she said.
“We have the governmentﾒs side which is still telling us that there are persons who cannot be a part of our union and that is illegal according to their own laws for them to say so.”
Parents, meanwhile, are hoping that there is quick resolution to the ongoing tension. Many of them support the teachers in their action.
As she prepared to pick up her son from a New Providence high school on Friday, Cyd Gay, who works in a law office in downtown Nassau, said, “Iﾒm for their protesting. I know teachers and I know the circumstances under which most of them work and I think itﾒs only fair that government support them properly.”
But other parents like Dawn Sweeting expressed outrage that the teachers were taking illegal actions.
“The teachers think they can hold this country hostage,” Ms. Sweeting said. “We can bring foreign teachers in and have them teach the same thing.”
Minister Sears had said that the education of some students was being jeopardized as a result of the actions of some teachers and he appealed to them to act in good faith.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
