Why Patrick Faber Does Not Care What You Think About the Honorarium

Patrick Faber

The minister acknowledged that he was in something of a catch-twenty-two situation, facing the wrath of unionized teachers who feel he has disrespected them, and the expectation of teachers who did not stand with their brothers and sisters that he would come to their rescue. But Faber contends that he has done the right thing and he does not particularly care who disagrees.

Patrick Faber, Minister of Education

“Is it so unfair, to do that, for them? How do you think those teachers felt, that they turned up – the eleven days of the strike, the four days in January – they were trying to make amends for their students, they were looking out for their students. Some of the ones who were on strike came in January because they did not then listen to the B.N.T.U. – listen, you accomplished what you accomplished, let’s get back to business; let’s try to address the situation now so that our children can become the beneficiaries – and those four days, down the drain, nobody paid them for it. And then, we are asking them again to come in Easter to give three more days; and then in summer to give three more days, do they not deserve some kind of compensation for those ten days? If you think, and anybody who says it – I don’t care if it’s the Chamber, the N.T.U.C.B. – any of them who criticizes me for giving something to those teachers who will have to work ten days outside of the eleven days that they already worked for the strike, some kind of honorarium, then, brother, I am wrong, and I will go down on that one. But I make no apologies for that; I believe it is the right thing to do. I have long said that there is a kind of catch-twenty-two – damned if you do and damned if you don’t. because when you try to compensate the teachers who did go on strike for those eleven days, the teachers who went to work will be mad; and if you try to compensate additionally the teachers who were not on strike, the ones who were on strike will get mad, so you can’t win.”