The Belize National Teachers Union (BNTU) says it will stage a demonstration here next Wednesday after it accused the Dean Barrow government on stalling on a number of issues affecting teachers.
The BNTU said that no agreement had been reached with the Ministry of Education on issues including hardship allowances for teachers in remote areas of the country, the stalling of negotiations on Proposal 22 and what the union calls the disrespect being shown by Education Minister, Patrick Faber.
BNTU national president, Elena Smith, said that the union was no longer prepared to accept the situation regarding teachers and that it is tired of “writing press releases and having these press conferences because it seem as though persons think that BNTU would not remain silent in the face of what it regards as the “unfair” treatment from the authorities.
“She said the branch presidents have come with a mandate from their membership and “so today we are announcing that on November seventh, the BNTU will demonstrate once more”.
In October 2016, the union staged an 11-day strike in support of the efforts to get the government to meet its demands.
The BNTU said that it is also rejecting the decision by the Ministry of Education to withhold commuting allowance owed to teachers prior to 2017.
“Recently the BNTU conducted an exercise where we looked at cases from our membership where teachers were not being paid increments and allowances on time. Through that investigation, we got to find out that the ministry is saying that commuting allowances that were not paid beyond 2017 will now not be honoured,” said BNTY general secretary, Keisha Young.
“The BNTU is saying that our teachers have gone out of pocket, some of them for several years, not receiving their commuting allowances and it is not their fault that those monies did not come on time. “And so the BNTU will work earnestly, and even if we have to work the legal route, we are putting the ministry of notice that if we have to go through the courts, we will ensure that our teachers get what they justly deserve,” she added.
I commend and support the teachers in their protest against this vindictive Barrow government for their much needed hardship and commuting allowances and other issues. As a private citizen, I went and participated in their protest march.