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Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"We find the actions of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education despicable, that pretty much what the government is trying to do is union bust. They want to try to break up the BNTU and try to intimidate the teachers by saying that if you don't come to work, we are going to find somebody to replace you. It is so ironic that when you want to see a minister, you can't see them, but right now you have all the elected representatives and ministers of the government and even their none elected representatives going to the schools right now and talking to the teachers and talking to the managers for them to be able to keep the schools open. It is like they are shooting the messenger. Instead of looking at the message that the BNTU is talking about."

"Who are these people they are going to bring in? A lot of these people have been dismissed as teachers or they have not been able to get their licenses for one reason or the other. And those are the people they are going to bring into the classrooms to look after our children? Something is seriously wrong with this government."

Reporter
"Have you met with the BNTU leadership?"

Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"No, I have not met with the BNTU leadership and I have deliberately done so, because I don't want for people to think that what the BNTU is doing is political. Even though the Prime Minister is already accusing the president Mr. Luke Palacio that it is political, that it is being driven by us in the PUP. We have not met with the BNTU. What we have been doing though is that we have been meeting other unions and other organizations and appealing to them that we need to stand up with the BNTU. We cannot allow the teachers to feel that they are alone with this fight."