Union Suggests School Managements Spoke from 2 Sides on Salary Docking
On Monday, we reported that there would be no docking of salaries for teachers who rallied in Belmopan on March twenty-second. The Belize Association for General Managers of Pre and Primary Schools issued a release announcing that teaches would get their salaries for the day, and as we told you, said that the Belize National Teachers Union was not accurate in its statements because management never made a decision to dock salaries. That same release also called the B.N.T.U.’s statements as divisive to withhold contributions pending the docking of salaries decision. Today, National President Elena Smith responded to the comments made in that release.
Elena Smith
Elena Smith, National President, B.N.T.U.
“Unfortunately, some of our Christians these days are not quite honest because some of these same managers were at a meeting with us, a joint education staff and council meeting, when I asked the question about the deductions. There I was told that they had a meeting two weeks prior to that meeting and most of them had agreed that they would be deducting. And so, for them to put a press release out saying that they never said that it is something that I can’t understand how they are representing Christian denominations and be putting out lies in a press release. And as you are fully aware, the Minister of Education, he himself said in an interview that he was aware some of them wanted to do so but he had not gotten anything official. Where in that are we lying? Am I lying? Is the Minister lying as well? Come on.”
Reporter
“They said that the B.N.T.U.’s decision to withhold contributions is like the B.N.T.U. trying to divide teachers and management?”
Elena Smith
“How can we divide teachers and managements? Many of these managers do not ask teachers whether they really want to, they tell them that they must. And we are fully aware as Christians that when you give your offerings, you should give them freely. So, when they say that we are trying to put teachers against them, how many times have they done that to our teachers; intimidated them so that our teachers do not support any of our Union’s activities. We have never done that. We have never said to our teachers that when you go to church on a Saturday or Sunday that you don’t freely give of your contributions. But it must not be placed in a way to you that feel that you must.”
