B.N.T.U. Says M.O.E. Sluggish with Proposal 22 Progress

Keisha Young

The Belize National Teachers Union also points out that Minister of Education, Patrick Faber, has failed to attend two scheduled meetings to discuss Proposal twenty-two in respect of retiring teachers from grant-aided schools.  B.N.T.U.’s General Secretary Keisha Young told the press this afternoon that a meeting had been set for September twenty fifth and then again on October second for the parties to make progress, but instead those dates have come and gone without fruition.

Keisha Young, General Secretary, B.N.T.U.

“In terms of proposal twenty two, if you may recall we had that on the negotiation table for quite a while. The government side had shared that they felt as if though that matter would have been pushed over to a subsequent CBA. We are saying no, we want that to be addressed. With the last meeting we had with the official side the Minister had agreed that the BNTU and the Ministry of Education will work through Proposal Twenty Two and so we had initially set a meeting for September twenty fifth that he agreed to. Both sides agreed to that date. On the fifteen, a correspondence was sent to the Minister to ask if we are still on for September twenty fifth. He indicated at that time that that date was not good for him anymore. So it would have been pushed back to October second. I think it was just before October second we checked again with the Minister to see if that meeting would happen. There was not response forthcoming as to whether or not it would happen. Since then we have gotten no response. We have sent correspondence, suggested new dates and have gotten no response.”