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BNTU Attorney Eamon Courtenay Files Suit
posted (November 16, 2016)

On Friday, we told you about the letter that attorney Eamon Courtenay sent to Education Minister Patrick Faber, on behalf of the Belize National Teachers Union. The BNTU is demanding that the Deputy Prime Minister rescind the decision to dock the teacher’s pay at the end of November, and they gave him until Monday to give a favourable response, or else they were going to sue him. As we told you, Faber told us that neither he nor the Attorney General intended to respond, and so, Courtenay filed the lawsuit in court today.

The first part of the claim is an application for injunction against the Government of Belize to stop them from withholding any contributions to the managing authorities of the different schools.  This is the money used for teachers’ salaries. This month’s payday for teachers is November 25, which is next week Friday.

The BNTU say that they have a strong case, which they have explained to us before. Their stance is that the Education Act and Rules do not allow for the Ministry to simply withhold their contributions to the school managers in such an arbitrary manner, and that it is for the Managing Authorities of the schools to decided whether or not teachers who engaged in industrial action are to be paid nor not.

It hasn’t been decided which judge will hear the injunction application, but if the teachers are successful in that first instance, they are seeking to get the Court to block the Ministry of Education from docking the teachers pay for those 11 days of strike. Another relief that the union is seeking is a declaration that Rule 102 (1) of the Education Rules is unconstitutional to the extent that it contravenes Section 3b and 13(1) of the Constitution. That Rule 102 is the section which the Government justifies its decision to withhold its contributions from the Managing Authorities.

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