BNTU Corrects Minister Faber’s Comments

Patrick Faber

Senator Elena Smith and General Secretary for the B.N.T.U. Keisha Young say that Education Minister Patrick Faber misspoke. In an interview aired on Wednesday, Minister Faber reportedly was speaking on the ongoing negotiations between the Ministry and the union as it relates to hardship allowance when he said that negotiations were on track. Minister Faber reportedly alluded that the teachers were happy with the way things were going but according to Smith and Young, not so.

Keisha Young, General Secretary, BNTU

Keisha Young

“He indicated that he had a meeting with us about a week and half ago and we expressed that we are happy with the way things were going which is totally untrue. We did have a meeting with the Minister but that issue never came up. So where we are at this point in time is waiting for a with the Joint Education Staff Relations Council in order to finalize the issue of the hardship and commuting allowance and that meeting is scheduled for March twenty-six.”

Hipolito Novelo

“Is the union happy with how things are going as how the Minister has alluded to?”

Senator Elena Smith

Senator Elena Smith, President, B.N.T.U

“I don’t know what there is to be happy about because we have not gotten to the point where we have agreed on anything and so the matter of hardship is still unresolved.”