B.N.T.U. Rejects the Withholding of Commuting Allowances

Keisha Young

The B.N.T.U. is also rejecting the decision by the Ministry of Education to withhold commuting allowance owed to teachers prior to 2017. The ministry has said it will not honour those allowances. In true B.N.T.U. fashion, General Secretary, Keisha Young did not mince words.

Keisha Young, General Secretary, B.N.T.U.

“Recently the B.N.T.U. conducted an exercise where we looked at cases from our membership where teachers were not being paid increments and allowances on time. Through that investigation, we got to find out that the ministry is saying that commuting allowances that were not paid beyond 2017 will now not be honoured. The B.N.T.U. is saying that our teachers have gone out of pocket, some of them for several years, not receiving their commuting allowances and it is not their fault that those monies did not come on time. And so the B.N.T.U. will work earnestly—and even if we have to work the legal route—we are putting the ministry of notice; that if we have to go through the courts, we will ensure that our teachers get what they justly deserve. (Clapping)”

According to the B.N.T.U., the demonstration is the first in a series of events it will undertake to show Belmopan that it is serious about the natural justice of teachers.