As we told you, the Ministry's emergency actions does allow - in theory - for classes to stay open, but it also undermines the BNTU's industrial leverage. We wondered if this response would cause the teachers to escalate further to try to outdo the Ministry, and reliable information reaching 7News is that it will.

We haven't been able to confirm, but reports suggests that having heard of these temporary replacement teachers, the Belize City Branch of the Union used their evening meeting yesterday to suggest escalation and retaliation against government's emergency actions. There is a Council of Management meeting tomorrow, and the Ministry's bold SI is expected to feature prominently on the agenda. The final decision on what action will be taken should come out of that meeting. Suggestions include extending the strike and taking material out of the classrooms which teachers bought.