Yesterday we told you about the Ministry of Education's plan provide a $1 million pay out to the teachers who did not participate in last year's 11-day strike, as well as those who made up the days lost during the Christmas holidays. Minister of Education Patrick Faber told us that the payments would be made as an honorarium to those teachers that stayed back.
Well since then the BNTU has responded. The teacher's union issued a fiery press release today condemning the payments and accusing the Ministry and government of Union busting. According to the release, the BNTU views this move as a way for the government to punish the teachers who stood up against what they called "the glaring act of corrupt practices that were being meted out on the Belizean people." BNTU President Luke Palacio explained the union's stance to the media today...
Luke Palacio, President - BNTU
"We at the Belize National Teachers Union see this again as a clear case of the government's continued attempt at union busting. And we say this simply because we went to court, the court has ruled - the Honorable Chief Justice had asked us to go to mediation. On our own free will we agreed to go to mediation, the mediation process was fairly intense. In fact we went beyond the prescribed time. But the atmosphere, the discussion seemed as one at which we were definitely arriving at some kind of amicable solution, if you will, to the problem."
"The position of Belize National Teachers Union as it went into that mediation - our two positions; 1) that we were requesting that the salaries of teachers who went on strike not be docked and, 2) that the teachers were prepared to make up the time."
"The officials from the ministry insisted that they wanted 6 full days to make up the time. The BNTU's proposal was that we were prepared to make up the time by having extra sessions or the school day to extend for half hour each day for a maximum number of days. Which would have covered the 6 days and that matter should have been resolved."
"They insisted that they wanted 6 full days. In the final analysis in the end they decided that yes they are not going to docked our salaries. In fact the word they use in the ruling or the mediation agreement was that they would abandoned this position of the docking of salaries for teachers who were on strike."
"But the ministry now is making an about face in determining that they are going to compensate those teachers who did not go on strike. We had written to the ministry recently, I think a couple weeks ago, indicating to them that we had gathered this information and that we are asking them to confirm. We wrote specifically to Dr. Carol Babb, the chief education officer. She has not responded. But it is now official that they are saying that they are going to pay these teachers and they try to use terms such as "it is not compensation, but it's an honorarium." We believe our position is, was and continues to be that you are paying teachers who did not go on strike, because you want to weaken the BNTU."
The BNTU also urged the teachers and school managers to reject the payments and instead ask that the funds be used to make improvements to school buildings and equipment. The union wasn't alone it their condemnation of the pay outs. The PUP also issued a press release accusing the government of trying to splinter the union and divide the teachers. The release also mentions that Parliament never approved $1 million dollars to be used in this way.
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