Teachers March

Belizean teachers will March on Belmopan on Friday in an effort to insist that the Barrow Administration pay attention to the issues of important to them.

After months of trying to reach agreement over the Education and Training Bill (2009), Government will present to Parliament a revised bill the Unions say is being presented in “haste.” The Unions charge that the Education Bill if far too important to move through the final stages in the House without the allowing for “serious and proper study, consideration, research and, if necessary, further consultations.”

The BNTU is worried that with the many amendments accepted at Monday’s Committee meeting, there was not enough time for legislators to study what was being proposed.  In addition, they disagree that the issue of corporal punishment should appear in the Education Bill at this time.

The Union, which not opposed to removing corporal punishment from the system believes that some other measure of discipline must be in place before this can be removed and is claiming that the delay in coming up with alternative methods of discipline is due to the fact that Minister has not moved on the recommendations they presented in 2008.

At the same time, the Belize Teachers Union leadership is still reeling from the stinging blow delivered by the Prime Minister at last week’s press conference.

If this new fight between government and the Belize Teachers Union would be compared to a boxing match, Mr. Barrow’s comment would be considered a severe blow below the belt.

Even before responding in a formal manner to the unions, the Prime Minister delivered his shot by informing the press that the union would not get what they wanted.

Last week Tuesday, one day after the Minister of Education said he was looking at the proposal, the Prime Minister stepped out and said: “We do not have the money, Punto Final!”  Then at his press conference on Wednesday the Prime Minister revealed that the unions wanted $122 million dollars over the next three years and that what they were asking for was,  “ an impossibility”.  One teacher who commented on this issue said: “this from a man who told us to ‘imagine the possibilities.’”

The PM’s reaction to the request by the Teachers Union was a direct contrast to the Prime Minister’s comments in response to a question about the amount of tax payer dollars being paid to his ex wife Mrs. Lois Yong Barrow.  In responding to the question the Prime Minister said that he will make no apologies for the amounts of monies being paid to Mrs. Barrow in legal fees.  Critics close to Mr. Barrow were upset by his comments and said it seems as if only Lois is able to realize the possibilities.

As for the Belize Teachers Union, BNTU’s Executive Secretary Mr. George Fraizer responded by saying: “They have taken too long to answer and respond and a series of letters that I have can show and chronicle when we first started the process with the present government. When the Prime Minister is quoting a hundred and twenty-two million, that is not what it actually would cost because we trade off.”

Fraizer, who was responding to a question from a Channel 5 reporter, went on to speak about the way the Union expected the bargaining process to have been handled.  He said: “When you negotiate, you sit down and negotiate and say okay we agree day you wah revise di tax system, which means that we agree that you will revise the tax system, which mean we wah have more money eena wi pocket soh den ih noh have to be maybe the ten and twelve percent raise weh wi di ask fah and thing like dat. Yes they have given some answers but we have not met from the twelfth of September, 2008 – wah year and change – that is disrespect.”

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