Is industrial action on the table for teachers?

Luke Palacio

During his interview on Thursday evening following the nationwide meetings of the ten branches of the Belize National Teacher’s Union (BNTU), National President Luke Palacio brought up a phrase that brings chills to the hearts of government and education officials – “industrial action.” Usually, that means anything from sick-outs to a strike and shutdown of operations. Palacio was responding to the question of whether the Union needed permission to hold Thursday’s meetings; he also clarified what the Union’s position is as to carrying out such industrial action.

Luke Palacio, National President, Belize National Teacher’s Union

“We were about to do this without informing anybody, because that is how unions work. If there is an industrial relations issue that you want to address, a number of people just walk out. We decided, okay, we are going to inform the management – we are not asking for permission, because this is the mistake that Dr. Babb continues to make, and that some managements continue to make: we were not asking for permission to have a meeting; we were informing them that we were going to have a meeting of our members. No, the intention was not to take industrial action. You see, industrial action takes several forms. Several forms. So you see this, particularly today, we are asking our teachers: come out to a meeting, get the information, you will make the decision at the end of the day what industrial action, and how we will initiate that when that time comes.”