Tonight tensions at the University of Belize have escalated to a breaking point. We've told you about the University's faculty and staff union's collective and defiant decision to refrain from teaching until course assignments and issues of management were finalized.
And, yesterday, with the learning platform moodle not working, faculty and staff stuck to their guns indicating that no formal instruction would begin until after the resolution of management issues.
But that didn't sit well with the Administration which last night in a scathing rebuke of the union's position said quote: " there seems to be a misunderstanding of the role the Union plays vs. The role of the employer i.e. U.B. Under normal circumstances, if employees dictated to their bosses that they WILL NOT do the work they are being paid for, publicly admonish the employer and put the reputation of the institution in ill repute, that in itself would have amounted to the sufficiency for the Employer/UB to accept the employee's resignation or terminate same on the grounds of gross misconduct. " End quote.
The letter warns, that Lecturers and the relevant Faculty and Staff should carry out their assigned task tomorrow…and, concludes, quote, "Failure to commence full teaching duties will leave the University with no other option but to exercise all its rights given to it under the Laws of Belize."
That's strong talk, and while there's yet to be an official response from the union, we do have one from the National Student Union which today in a press release of their own gave their response to the situation affecting roughly 52% of their membership.
They call the statement from the University's Board of Trustees Chairman quote: "iniquitous and alarming" and promise to stand in full solidarity with the union.
They cite three main reasons that the University is not prepared to begin administering online classes: Unresolved and escalating issues, lack of adequate preparation time provided for lecturers, and student dissatisfaction with the present online infrastructure employed to administer classes. These they say are proof that the administration has also failed in their job which since the closure of school should have included the upgrading of online infrastructure and providing adequate preparation time for lecturers expected to teach courses.
Additionally, they raise the complaint that students are still being charged lab, activity, and library fees despite the fact that they have become obsolete in the midst of the pandemic.
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