THE EXECUTIVE OF THE Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) is questioning why its members’ salaries are being threatened with deduction for attending a meeting held during school hours, while members of the Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools (BAPPSS) attend monthly meetings during school time but never face such threats.
BSTU president Mary Redman, addressing a BSTU meeting held at the National Union of Public Workers headquarters in Dalkeith, St Michael, yesterday, said: “If we have a meeting at the school and we indicate the nature of the problems in the school and the seriousness of the problems, if this meeting has to go on for any time over the official lunch time, that is seen as industrial action.
“If we have a meeting during the school time outside of the school, that is seen as industrial action, yet still every month we know at least one Tuesday a month for BAPPSS, there are whole-day meetings by the principals of the secondary schools . . . not like ours that are just a few hours of the school day, and they do it consistently,” she added.
Redman was taking issue with a letter from the Ministry of Education threatening to abate the salaries of teachers who attended April 5 March For Respect, which she said the ministry had termed a strike. (LK)
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