The decision of the new executive leadership of the Bahamas Union of Teachers to refuse to adopt the draft Collective Bargaining Agreement that was crafted by their predecessors is spiking concerns about a prolonged process.
President Ida Poitier and her team became entrenched in their positions a week ago after former president Kingsley Black and his team demitted office.
Before doing so, he and a collective bargaining committee of the union designed a draft proposal with provisions that would govern the terms and conditions of teachers’ employment, relations between the Ministry of Education and the union and school management.
The old administration of the BUT had wanted the pact sealed by this summer. Negotiations had not begun on the matter.
According to the draft agreement, a copy of which has been obtained by the Bahama Journal, the teachers union wanted the Teaching Service Commission and accompanying regulations to govern the employment of teachers in The Bahamas – as a matter of priority – replacing the longstanding Public Service Commission in that regard.
The Teaching Service Commission had actually been one of the issues that was proposed in the referendum that was held in February 2002.
At that time, voters were asked to approve an amendment to the Constitution of The Bahamas that would have entrenched the Teaching Commission.
Union president Ida Poitier and her team went on record refusing to adopt the draft proposals carte blanche and indicated that they preferred to undertake a review of a number of things, including the union’s financial records.
The collective agreement, which will be the first of its kind for teachers in the Public Education System was said to be one of the highest priorities of the union.
“It’s a pity that I am being treated as an outcast when I have sacrificed 30 years of my life for that organization,” said Mr. Black in a Journal interview.
The tensions involving himself, his successor Ms. Poitier and Secretary General Belinda Wilson are no secret. Last year Mr. Black moved to suspend the two from the union, a decision that the Supreme Court ultimately reversed.
Although now officially out of office, Mr. Black maintained that he was still interested in helping the union nail down its collective agreement with the Ministry of Education and classified the draft proposal that was created as a positive step in that direction.
Mr. Black is reportedly in the process of negotiating a new position with the Ministry of Education as the manager of the National Education Secretariat.
In the interim, Mr. Black, who also has a strategic position with the Caribbean Union of Teachers, is organizing the union’s conference planned for The Bahamas for early August.
“I have survived four votes of no confidence, the resignation of members of my executive board to try to force me to resign all because I wanted to bring more order, structure and sophistication to the [BUT],” Mr. Black said.
The government is in the process of simultaneously negotiating salary enhancements for various classifications of civil servants, including teachers, and had budgeted $24 million for that very purpose in this fiscal year.
The Minister of Education Alfred Sears also referred to the union’s hesitancy to proceed with the draft agreement.
“They wanted the opportunity to review it and seek the advice of their counsel,” he said. “Upon receipt of the draft collective bargaining agreement the government will review it and put forward any proposals it has and hopefully the parties in very short order will be able to have a meeting.”
The draft collective agreement also addressed the issue of classroom and school sizes, the ever important matter of recruiting and retaining teachers and the maintenance of professional integrity.
The recommendation was that a maximum of 1000 students be enrolled in secondary schools and 800 in primary schools. Maximum class sizes proposed were 15 students in pre-schools where there is also a teacher’s aid, 20 students in grades one to three in primary schools, 25 students in the remaining grades and 30 students per class in secondary and high schools.
Calls to the union president and the secretary general were not returned.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
