In a move that caught some government officials off guard and created a traffic nightmare in the city of Nassau, hundreds of frustrated public schoolteachers stormed Bay Street yesterday after rejecting the government’s offer for an industrial agreement.
In response to the demonstration, police officers brought out barricades, blocking a portion of the main thoroughfare, including side streets like Charlotte and Frederick.
The protest was timed to coincide with the meeting of the House of Assembly and Senate and came hours after teachers rejected the government’s proposal in a general meeting.
The government is proposing a five-year contract, which includes a productivity pay system, but the teachers want a three-year contract and insisted that productivity pay was counter-productive.
According to Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) President Ida Poitier, the government also wants to extend school hours to 8:30am to 5pm. Presently, teachers work from 8:45am to 3:15pm.
Ms. Poitier also said the government proposes to slash teachers’ vacation from eight weeks to three weeks and during that three-week period, teachers would still be required to participate in professional development workshops.
Teachers reportedly would also be required to participate in extra-curricula activities.
Ms. Poitier said what the government is offering is “nonsense” and “an insult to teachers”.
The BUT is demanding an immediate lump sum payment of $4,000 for each of the 3,500 members of its bargaining unit. The government, however, is offering a $700 lump sum payment, in line with what was paid to civil servants in December.
The union is also demanding a $12,000 raise for each teacher that would cover the period January 2006 to June 2008.
Asked whether the teachers felt this would be reasonable, Ms. Poitier said, “They don’t think it’s reasonable, but it’s something they can live with.”
In addition to the immediate $700 lump sum payment, the government is offering the teachers a $100 per month raise, which would be retroactive to January 2006.
In 2007, the teachers would be paid based on the results of a compensation study; and in July 2008, the start of a new fiscal year, they would get $750 added to their base pay (which would actually be paid during the course of that year).
The fifth year of the government’s contract (2009), would mean that teachers would be paid based on a high performance evaluation system.
“Persons around the world are moving away from [this system] because it is something that cannot take place in a workplace where we’re dealing with human beings,” Ms. Poitier said.
During the heat of the demonstration in Parliament Square, Education Minister Alfred Sears, speaking with a megaphone, appealed to the teachers to be responsible and reasonable.
“Putting a gun to the government’s head [is not the right way],” Minister Sears said. “I don’t think I have ever been unreasonable. I have worked for eight years as a lawyer for the BUT. I understand how collective bargaining [works].”
He told the rowdy demonstrators that the law imposes an obligation on the government to be reasonable and constructive, and it also imposes a duty on the union to do the same.
“It is the union that left the table,” said Minister Sears, as he attempted to speak over shouting teachers who consistently tore up copies of the government’s proposal to his face.
Labour Minister Shane Gibson told The Bahama Journal that no negotiations have yet taken place since the teachers and the government exchanged proposals. He said given that negotiations are actually scheduled to take place next week, the demonstration was premature.
But early on during the protest, Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia Pratt said she empathized with the teachers.
“I am a teacher as well,” Minister Pratt said. “I’ll always be a teacher and I respect these people-I don’t know what the concerns are at this point, but certainly we will listen. I think if we are negotiating in good faith and if it comes to a stalemate, I can’t hold anything against them because I’ve marched before-so I understand their plight.”
While chanting and singing, many of the demonstrators toted placards outlining their cause. One of the placards read: “We waited over three years for a full-time minister in parliament. We will not wait over three years for our full-time payment.”
Another read: “Everything is increasing-everything, but our salaries”.
Prime Minister Perry Christie, who arrived as the demonstration was still going on, urged teachers to be mindful of the approach that they were taking and said that the government is always willing to talk.
Meanwhile, as the protestors were taking their cause to Bay Street, many classrooms had been left abandoned by educators.
Security and police officers were being heavily utilized to try and assist in keeping order in the schools.
At some schools, several security officers reported that less than one third of teachers reported for classes yesterday morning. As news of the downtown protest spread across New Providence, many parents collected their children from schools, although several administrators told The Bahama Journal that schools had not been closed.
Marching up and down Parliament Street using a megaphone, BUT Secretary General Belinda Wilson urged teachers to report to their schools by noon and told them repeatedly to make sure that they sign in.
Asked what was happening with students as many teachers had not reported to class yesterday morning, Ms. Poitier said that was the government’s concern.
By: Royanne Forbes-Darville, The Bahama Journal
