Education Minister Slams B.N.T.U. over Hardship Allowance

Minister, Patrick Faber also had some strong words for the Belize National Teachers Union and its president, Senator Elena Smith. Minister Faber was asked for an update regarding delayed meetings between the B.N.T.U. and the Ministry as it relates to the re-categorization of hardship schools and time-off for payday. Last week the B.N.T.U. issued a warning to the Ministry, stating that if the ‘disrespect’ continues, actions will be taken. In late September, the Ministry extended an invitation to Managing Authorities of schools and the B.N.T.U. to submit additional recommendations for consideration. Minister Faber says that the B.N.T.U. made no submissions but wants to dictate how the negotiation progresses.

Patrick Faber, Minister of Education

Patrick Faber

“The B.N.T.U. insists that they don’t want to put forward their concerns in that manner. They want to dictate how they can put forward their concerns. They want to dictate a meeting. I would remind them again, it is the Ministry of Education that makes policy for education in this country. As a courtesy and we try, we always try to do this because it is the best interest of the Ministry to make those policies in consultation with the stakeholders. That is why we consult the Join Staff Relations Council. We’ve given them an opportunity to yet again bring those concerns just for them to reach to the meeting of the seventeenth with no concerns presented in writing and then insisting that they need a special meeting. They want to dictate. I am sorry but we have to maintain that the government is the government to lead. It would seem to me that the B.N.T.U. wants to dictate. If the B.N.T.U. were serious in getting better allowance for those persons, then the right thing to do is to conclude the ten year and ongoing still collective bargaining negotiations which they are holding up as we speak from concluding before stating a next cycle. I am not saying that those who work in those areas don’t deserve more but there is an agreement that the B.N.T.U. and everybody else agreed to in the first part of the collective bargaining agreement that was signed off too that said what those allowances would be, that said that they would category one from one hundred to two hundred dollars. They agreed to that and they signed on to that. Where was Elena Smith and the other people of the B.N.T.U. when that was being signed off? If they did not think it was adequate and they knew about all of these very tough areas, why didn’t they then, why is that still not on the table? Why is that not one of the issues that that has not concluded because you do not agree? They signed off to that hardship allowance being raised from a hundred to two hundred dollars.”