7 News Belize

Teachers Strike Continues Into Fifth Day
posted (October 6, 2016)
Today, was day 4 of the teachers strike, and demonstrations were held all around the country, as the 10 branches of the Belize National Teachers Union flexed their numbers. It was the union's way of putting numbers in the street, and giving others in the public a chance to show their support by marching along.

We'll show you how the demonstrations looked in Belize City, Belmopan, Benque, and Orange Walk, but first to the most important news of the day. The strike will continue tomorrow, and there is a possibility that if the general membership so chooses, it could spill into next week.

This afternoon, the President of the Belize District Branch told us that she and the other Branch leadership will seek out their teachers on whether or not they will strike next week:

Kathleen Flowers, Belize City Branch Rep.
"Today we do our demonstration, tomorrow the council of management of BNTU meets and therefore that's a clear indicator to you that this week we end it off with another day of strike action. When that council of management meets of Friday, it would be meeting using a mandate gotten from the membership of the branch, because when we initiated this industrial action, it was initiated with a mandate from our membership. Therefore none of us as members of the union can determine that we would bring it to an end without that mandate or directive from our membership."

"This afternoon across the country after each branch has held its rally, we are going to be having membership meetings at which we are going to ask our members to humbly give us the direction that they wish to take this industrial in."

"It's very important that we go back to our members because they are the ones that have been making the sacrifice alongside the work that we as their leaders have been guiding them through."

Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Do you get any sense that having done this for 4 days now, the public blasting and tongue lashing that the teachers have been getting, that the teachers are getting weary of this battle?"

Kathleen Flowers, Belize City Branch Rep.
"I don't feel any sense of weariness. What we have been getting is that the teachers are prepare to go through for the long haul. But as a responsible organization we have to paint the picture before them what the long haul means and what the long haul will bring and therefore it's up to them to do an assessment and come up with their answer as to how long they want that haul to be. But we are not getting a sense that our teachers are getting tired and want to stop."

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