On December 16, Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin ordered the Ministry of Education and the Belize National Teachers Union to try and resolve their dispute through court ordered mediation. That's to settle the lawsuit which the BNTU filed to stop the Ministry from docking the pay for the teachers who participated in that 11-day strike in October of last year.
There were 45 days to settle it out-of-court, and today, only 10 days before they have to return before the Chief Justice, the two sides met for the first time.
We were there the court, outside the mediation meeting this afternoon, where the parties were back and forth for about 2 hours before we finally left. We couldn't get any other information about how it went. That's because one of the rules of mediation sessions are that they are to be kept strictly confidential, until there is an outcome, and the judge has been properly informed of the outcome.
We do know that the two sides are expected to go back before the Chief Justice on February 6, to report on their progress. Right now, the Ministry can't cut the teachers' salary for that 11-day strike, because it is being restrained by an injunction.
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