7 News Belize

Teachers Show Numbers In Belmopan
posted (November 7, 2018)
After a week of anticipation, teachers from all across the country took to the streets of Belmopan today for a demonstration. They were answering the call from their union to send a message to the Government. They are unhappy that several important teacher-related issues remain unresolved.

By now, you should know very well about the fight over the hardship allowance for teachers. The BNTU says that the Ministry of Education handled that situation poorly by re-categorizing some schools in remote areas of the country, either cutting the allowance for some, or removing others from the list.

The Ministry insisted the changes are justified. Top technocrats say that the teachers union was consulted, and that the teachers had up until today to make their case to the district education councils, as to why certain schools deserve to be put back on the list, or their allowances increased.

Then, there is the fight over the negotiations for proposal 22 in the negotiations for the joint unions collective bargaining agreement. The teachers union insists that the Ministry of Education is stalling the negotiations on this proposal, which negatively affects the pensions for teachers from church managed schools. Finally, there is the continued withholding of commuting allowances for teachers.

All that frustration resulted in a flexing of muscle from the Union today, and our news team traveled to Belmopan to see just what type of support the BNTU has from its membership. Daniel Ortiz reports:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
When we arrived, we found teachers disembarking buses, and lining up for the first part of their demonstration for the day.

At first, it didn't appear as though the teachers showed up in the numbers needed to legitimize this rally, but, as the morning went by, we noticed that the number of green shirts started to swell.

Later into the parade around the ring road, we counted 1,300 participants who were mostly teachers, marching in the hot Belmopan sun. They chanted the union song, and seemed mostly unaffected by the heat, even if their pace suggested they wanted to quickly finish this part of the day's activities.

It did serve the purpose to show that teachers from all across Belize's answered the call of their President to demonstrate

Hon. Elena Smith - President, BNTU
"It's a good feeling. We knew that our teachers would have come out today, because when the union calls and our members know that our call is a just one, they join us. We have at least 2 buses from every branch. So that will be 20 buses at least."

Once the trip around the ring road was completed, the teachers congregated at the Civic Center, for a morning of speeches from their leaders and a few chosen guests.

Outside, we saw individuals from other organizations such as the President of the CWU, the Leader of the Opposition, and a few PUP politicians.

Evan "Mose" Hyde - President CWU
"As you know the BNTU came out very supportive of CWU in the matter of negotiations with the Port. But beyond that, I think that being involved with union work for the past months, gives you a unique perspective on why it is the BNTU feels disrespected. You cannot tolerate being told outright condescendingly and arrogantly that a matter is not to be negotiated. I believe on a principle alone, a union has to respond to that and I think that all unions have that consciousness and that's why I am out here and some of my members have joined me as well."

Hon. John Briceno - Leader of the Opposition
"I come from a family of teachers. My mother was a teacher, my father was a teacher, my wife is a teacher and the teachers are the bedrock of this country and in any righteous cause we need to show our full one hundred percent support for the teachers."

Evan "Mose" Hyde - President CWU
"I think that anytime anyone whether it's a bargaining entity, employer, a minister - whoever it is tell a union outright that that matter is off. You can't tolerate that and that violates the very spirit of how unions are supposed to operate and again, i double down on the fact that the BNTU has every right to up the ante in response to that type of in my view dictatorial action on the part of the minister."

And the teachers certainly used their rostrum at the Civic Center to declare that their concerns will not be ignored.

There was even an impromptu song for the Deputy Prime Minister.

Crowd chanting
"Da soh he wah be prime minister, we noh de pan dat."

Hon. Elena Smith
"There are some people and I don't want to go Zacchaeus days, but there are some people in this land who believe that they have power and that their power will remain with them forever. That is not so. Every one of us we have a time and we have a purpose and when you purpose and when your time is up - you gotta go. If it is that union that you must go before your time, if we believe that you must go before your time - you bet the cook, you are going to go. We don't play punches with red nor blue and there is another green beside the BNTU and if that green comes along that green will get it too."

Teacher 1
"Teachers, I don't know why, but everybody think you are perfect human beings - that you do not need time off, that you do not need $200, that you do not need your 100% pension high school teachers. For God sake who tell you that we do not need it? We need it. That's not even enough and I invite all those who are not teachers who have a lot to say to step in the shoes of a teacher Monday to Friday and you will know how one feel."

Teacher 2
"If BNTU call a strike tomorrow I will be number one in support of my union, because this union continue to fight for its members and continue to fight for Belize. It's nearly 2 years since that great 11 days. The minister missed his month - October 2016 - 11 days we were strike and because you're on strike in 2016, the man still has feelings."

Teacher 2
"Just remember when they try to silence our leaders, they are silencing your voices and we will not allow that. So anytime it's time for us to march for respect and better benefits - 100% the green machine - never fail to understand that we will not allow you to silence the voices of Belize and that happens to be the teachers of Belize."

Elena Smith
"Every time we come to these clashes, we would have tried everything we could to ensure that we get meetings together that we get movement on these issues and when we come to this, it is because there is no other choice for us. So when you hear people talking out there that teachers like to strike - they better not wait for us to strike, because this is not a strike right now. This is only a demonstration and you know what demonstration means, it's a way to show right. So right now we are just showing them what it is that we can do."

"When that time comes for us to strike, whoever is in the way - we don't care who it is - you are in the way, you are going to get it!"

But all that hard talk aside, the BNTU leadership feels justified in calling for today's demonstration, to signal to the Government that the union's membership, which numbers thousands, cares very much about the issues in dispute.

Hon. Elena Smith - President, BNTU
"For us the hardship matter is one of the main ones and that is where the schools are being re-categorized and some schools are being taken off the list. Some are being added on to the list, some are being downgraded and so teachers who are in a higher category are now moved down to a lower category and that means that these teachers then would be getting less monies that they would have normally be getting. The fight today is not for money. Let me make that very clear. We are not asking for an increase in any allowance, we are asking that we be called to the table as the bargaining agent for teachers for us to discuss and finalize these schools being categorized. The other issue is that of proposal 22, which is a part of our negotiations. As you heard the minister saying that that matter is off the table. It was no longer a live issue. We kept saying that that matter was still on the table and we would not give it up and as you've heard we've got a letter from the prime minister and he is agreeing that we should meet and discuss the matter, because he sees no reason why we should be at this point right now."

As you heard, the BNTU president says that the Prime Minister has written a letter to them, indicating a willingness to encourage the resumption of dialog on this issues. The press asked for more details on this latest communication, and the President told us that the PM wants to de-escalate tension between his government and the union:

Hon. Elena Smith - President, BNTU
"The Prime Minister shared with me that the matter was discusses at cabinet, based on the letter that we sent to him and that cabinet felt that these are matters that we could trashed out just by having sit downs and discussing the matter and so he has agree that the minister then should meet with us and have these discussion so that we can finalize these matters. If it is that we cannot get to any finality with the matter, then the Prime Minister will step in and he will take over these matters."

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