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Two nights ago we told you about the sabre-rattling release from the Belize National Teachers Union.  

The union threatened to mobilise its members because of a re-categorization of hardship allowances and a change in which teachers qualified for time off to collect their salaries.

The union concedes that as part of the Joint Education Staff Relations Council it was a part of the consultation on the changes, but says the Ministry then went off and finalized the list on its own - without the union signing off on it.

Well today the Ministry struck back with an hour long press conference led by the senior policy makers. They said the consultation lasted form April to September with the Union involved in every meeting and and communication every step of the way.  That culminated on September fourth - one day after school started when the Ministry told stakeholders it was going ahead with the revised list.  The Deputy Chief Education Officer led those meetings:..

Cecilia Ramirez Smith - Deputy Chief Education Officer
"At the start of September I believe the date was September 4th because schools reopen on the 3rd and on the 4th we had a meeting in this very room with the general manager's association and we had a full agenda with different items and the BNTU was here in that meeting as well. We announced that we - the same process that I shared earlier we shared with them, this is what we did, this is where we are at, we're ready to go and the list will be circulated to be effective for this school year."

Jules Vasquez
"Is the BNTU being untruthful when it says that no finalized list has been put forward."

Cecilia Ramirez Smith
"In my opinion, yes."

Debbie Domingo - CEO, Ministry of Education
"They were a part of this and I believe that it is their responsibility to have consulted with the council and wider membership and provided the feedback to joint education staff relations council. Obviously it is a source of dismay because over the last year, we have been in very close communication with the BNTU - through WhatsApp, email and very regular meetings and at the very least, if there is a significant issue to be resolved, it is in our best interest to get together and do that and the ministry has over the last month or so had several opportunities to be in contact with them and it was never brought up."

Dr. Carol Babb - Chief Education Officer
"I was very shocked when I saw the press release because Ms. Smith and Ms. Young have been in communication with both the CEO and myself almost on a weekly basis. About other matters, individual teachers, about a school and I can say to the best of my our ability we answered them."

Debbie Domingo
"We don't have people as a part of the joint staff for their in their own capacity, they're there representing and from time to time, the president of the BNTU will tell you, I need to check with my people. They had April, May, etc. to do that and in the deafening silence that ensued, there was an assumption made. So we are caught off guard because that has not been the modus operandi of the union. If they have an issue, they should be able to say it and put it on the table but that was not forthcoming."

Hon. Patrick Faber - Minister of Education
"I gather from the line of questioning that Jules is following or is pursuing that there might be the point being mad that the BNTU had to agree or approve the list. I remind folks again and I'm pleased the CEO pointed out the role - it is the government, it is the Ministry of Education ultimately that should determine the policy, advised by the stakeholders and we have been very good in terms of consulting."

And while he made to clear whose prerogative it was to implement the new, updated list, Minister Faber pointed to what he describes as a culture of entitlement among some in the teaching profession.  He also specifically to educators in the Stann Creek district - which he feels are behind these grumblings:…

Hon. Patrick Faber
"The Ministry of Education has been most generous to teachers in the Stann Creek District. What the deputy chief said and highlighted about transportation of teachers, cost us quite a pretty penny to provide transportation for teachers in the Stann Creek District. There is no other district, she mentioned Toledo as well but nothing like what is in Stann Creek. We bend backwards, something we're not obliged to do, to provide bus runs for teachers to get them to school on a daily basis. Not only on a daily basis but even when payday is there. So when you cut to the chase and you get down to the nitty gritty, what you will find is that teachers are saying even though the government is providing a bus to bring me to town on payday, I still want time off because I was getting time off all along and we deserve time off and so I want it. We have situations in a district in this country in Corozal, our district manager is here. Where there is half day every Friday, I kid you not, in all the schools in the rural areas and it's a problem we've been trying to address."

"Every rural school in Corozal, they tell me say one has every Friday afternoon off, even when it is not payday. These kinds of things my friends have got to stop, there is a lot of time wasted and our children are not being served properly and we've got to do something about it. These are the kind of situations that are very real and that are the points that I suspect and I'm not suspecting blankly, I suspect because I've heard on the ground that people are fighting to keep and if that is what the union is insisting on as I suspect they are, then this is not going to work. Children need more contact hours and we need to stop wasting time and dilly dallying along, a lot of teachers are holding on to these things almost as it is an entitlement - we're not quarrelling you know but we have to take our stand as the government."