By AVA TURNQUEST and

KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporters

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Union of Teachers renewed calls for the dismissal of the education minister when more than 200 teachers marched on Rawson Square yesterday.

Led by BUT president Belinda Wilson, educators locked arms, chanted, and briefly sat down in the street for nearly an hour before dispersing shortly before 10am.

Mrs Wilson said: “We came here in solidarity because over the past few weeks the Minister has been very disrespectful to teachers in his public statements, and we also believe that he is not treating them as professionals.”

Both sides of the square were barricaded, and police officers lined up against protesters to contain the “peaceful” mob.

Leon Bethel, Assistant Commissioner of Police, said: “The BUT president made some remarks and we asked them to leave, they did not leave and they decided to sit in Rawson Square. We are just here giving them an opportunity to disperse peacefully. They are peaceful and we have no issues right now, things are under control.”

He added: “There are probably about 200 or so teachers.”

Pointing out that teachers were given very short notice, Mrs Wilson maintained that the number of protesters neared 500 teachers.

The protest began with a mini-rally in the parking lot of SuperValue at 8am, she said.

“There are so many problems that we have that the minister refuses to get to the table and deal with,” said Mrs Wilson. “We have been in and out of the department of Labour, in meetings with the Minister of Labour, the Prime Minister, and we feel as though we’re not getting anywhere with our complaints.

“We are really upset,” she added, “about the union executives being denied access to the workplace, that is union busting because if you are unable to reach your members then you are unable to represent them properly or at all.”

Barricades were set up along Rawson Square early yesterday morning.

When asked if police were tipped off to the impromptu protest, Mr Bethel said: “The police always have intelligence and we are always prepared to take action at a split second. We are here to serve this Bahamas and the Bahamian people can rely on us to protect them at all levels.

“There is nothing that can go on that we wouldn’t be prepared for,” he said. “The crowd came shortly after 9 am, for a short period they sat in the street impeding the movement of traffic.”

The demonstration was executed to send a clear message to the government that teachers fully supported the union, according to a grade one teacher at Uriah McPhee Primary School.

The 15-year educator said: “We came out today in support of our union. There are many issues that the union has placed before the government and these issues have not been addressed. So we’re just trying to let [the government know that we are going to make you all address these issues and in a timely manner.”

She added: “Belinda doesn’t run the show, she’s our leader, she guides us, but we tell her what we want and that’s how it’s done.”

On Tuesday night, Mrs Wilson told The Tribune that teachers throughout the country are on “high alert” and will remain so “until further notice”. The decision came after a meeting that night to decide the next course of action in an ongoing stand-off with the government.

At that time, Mrs Wilson remained tight-lipped on exactly what decision the approximately 400 educators came to during their discussions at Walkers Hall.

“Everyone will just have to wait and see,” Mrs Wilson said, “but something is going to happen. The teachers are on high alert.”

The union had threatened last Friday to move their efforts up a notch early this week.

According to Mrs Wilson, teachers had grown impatient with the Christie administration’s promises to pay them money owed them this year.

She vowed that industrial action by teachers would continue until their requests were met.

However, Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald has repeatedly said that the teachers will be compensated, and that he was confused by the union’s decision to remain confrontational.

Mrs Wilson told reporters that the union is fed up with the same promises throughout successive governments.

In view of this, public school teachers decided to activate a work to rule, which has been active for nearly two weeks. Teachers responsible for holding after school activities said they were cancelling until further notice.

At the time, Mrs Wilson said: “The Minister and subsequent Ministers to him have said over and over they will pay us, but that hasn’t happened. So I will not believe it until we see the money on our bank accounts. So we will continue to agitate and we will take it to another level next week, you wait and see.”

Mr Fitzgerald has warned that teachers who refuse to take on extra-curricular activities will have their pay cut, and they will be replaced.

Yesterday, Mr Fitzgerald declined to comment further on the matter.

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