Teachers to return to classrooms Monday but under conditions

Teachers say they will return to the classrooms on Monday but if all demands are not met before the start of the workday, they will engage in Industrial Action by way of a “sit-in.”

The teachers through a press statement said they will maintain this posture until they have satisfactorily addressed the remaining issues.

“The battle rages on! The A&BUT has been more than accommodating with the Ministry of Education. We have made ourselves available for meetings and have extensively ventilated the issues before us,” they said in a statement

They said that these meetings were conducted with a spirit of cooperation and determination to get our outstanding issues resolved.

“Yet, the Ministry of Education continues to present a narrative that paints teachers as unreasonable even though their poor management practices are the root cause of their inadequate performances,” the statement added.

Teachers say, to date, only two demands made have been fully met (Plans for SNRA and lighting in schools).

“We have indicated our willingness to extend further grace to the Ministry of Education as it works towards addressing the issues of fencing at SNRA and Pares, and the installation of Security Cameras”.

During a meeting held yesterday representatives from the A&BUT made it very clear that “we will not relent on our demands to have a counter-proposal to the terms presented within our proposed Collective Bargaining Agreement and the payments of the difference in salary to teachers who have been upgraded”.

Teachers also claimed that it is pellucid that the Ministry of Education cannot be trusted to fulfill their basic responsibilities to teachers and must be held accountable for this failure in the execution of their duties.