B.N.T.U. Belize District President to ensure appropriate procedures are adhered to
Kathleen Flowers
Following this morning’s press conference, News Five spoke with Kathleen Flowers, president of the Belize District branch of the Belize National Teachers Union. B.N.T.U., as the representative body of the displaced high school teachers, will have to work closely with the Ministry of Education to ensure that appropriate procedures are adhered to when they are made redundant.
Kathleen Flowers, B.N.T.U. President, Belize District
“We would have to look at the situation alongside ministry to see where the due process was engaged in and as long as that comes up transparent then there is no issue of our having to say that now we have to represent these teachers in a matter of trying to see that they get the treatment that should occur with them. It would be that the union would really have to examine the process that was used in creating the redundancy status for these teachers and once that falls in alignment with the labor laws and that falls in alignment with the education rules, it’s done through the mechanisms that are supposed to be used then the union will have to understand that this is a process that they’re going through and if we can sit down and negotiate a way through which we can get these teachers placed as is being proposed because we had talked about this at our meeting on Monday, that it could be a possibility. And I must say that the representatives from the ministry were amenable to it and if it can be worked out that’s exactly the way that it’s supposed to work, the union and the ministry serving the best interest of all the stakeholders. So if that could happen then that would be what we would refer to as a win-win situation for all parties involved. But on the flip side of that, if it does not happen then we would have to come up with the clear-cut justification of why Teacher X is being asked to exit, versus Teacher Y.”
The impending changes will come into effect during the course of the summer break, prior to the start of the 2014 academic year.
