Government’s announcement that it plans to appoint temporary public officers across the board in the coming months, is being met with some scepticism by the country’s largest teachers’ union.
This morning president of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Sean Spencer told Barbados TODAY that this latest promise from Prime Minister Mia Mottley was one which they have heard from previous administrations and it was now a case of believing it when it happens. He said that while appointments have been a hot button issue for years, teachers were not about to get their hopes raised by promises, as history has taught them that when it comes to this issue, such promises do not materialise.
“These are things which are easily said and we would have heard the same thing as early as March when I spoke with the Director General and she said at the time that there were 500 cases being dealt with and this was system-wide. I informed our members of this and while persons were appreciative of the update, they are still waiting,” said Spencer., “Teachers would really love to see their appointments but the fact of the matter is that after having interviews twice in the last ten years and recommendations having been sent off to the relevant persons with the support of the board and still no action, they really and truly will not take this seriously.”
The BUT president told Barbados TODAY that Government needed to go a step further than issuing declarations and take the additional steps to ensure that the wheels of the system turn a lot faster than they would have done in the past.
“We would have had appointments in 2016 where persons received their notification letters but it is now 2019 and they are still awaiting confirmation. If I go further back, I can tell you that persons have received notification letters in 2008 and still have not received confirmation,” he revealed.
He pointed out that in such cases, teachers would be placed at a disadvantage as they essentially lose out on years of back pay.
“The rates applied on NIS (National Insurance) is 9.8 for temporary employees and 11.1 for permanent employees. So, there is a difference of 1.3 per cent of your salary that you are due back. NIS tells you that there is a two-year threshold for which you can be paid, so you don’t get all of that back. It is actually disadvantageous to persons in more ways than one because when you do receive your instrument you actually only receive a portion of your refund because persons are not processing the documents in good time,” Spencer lamented.
The outspoken trade unionist is also concerned that appointments en masse would mean that persons with more years of service could be placed at a disadvantage, especially when it comes to determining seniority.
“Furthermore, if persons are in the employ of the Ministry of Education from 2010 and others from 2013, they would both be getting instruments that are going to put them on the same line. So even though these persons were in the system longer, their official tenure is not going to afford them any advantage and this could potentially damage the psyche,” he stressed.
Barbados TODAY made several attempts to reach the president of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU), Mary Redman, to determine if the mood was the same among that membership, but was unsuccessful.
Earlier this week, president of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Akanni McDowall revealed that Mottley, during a meeting of the Social Partnership this week, announced that she would be appointing all temporary public officers with three years or more of unbroken service once those to be appointed had no adverse reports against them.
McDowall, who expressed elation at the news, told Barbados TODAY that he has “every confidence” that the Prime Minister would keep her word.
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb
