Tension mounts between SVOBE
and MPC and Sundial teachers
PHILIPSBURG--Tension mounted yesterday between the School Board for Secondary Education SVOBE and teachers of its two schools: Milton Peters College (MPC) and Sundial School.
At issue are the school board’s plans to deduct monies from teachers’ salaries for the days when they did not work during their union-backed “Action for Justice” late February.
As a result of this latest development, which could result in a showdown, Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) President Claire Elshot last night summoned an “urgent general membership meeting” for today “to update the teachers of the latest development with regard to WITU’s Action for Justice.”
Today’s meeting will be held at the WIFOL Building on the Pondfill starting at 3:30pm – after official school hours.
The teachers of the two schools are angry about a letter they received from the school board advising them that deductions would be made from their salaries with effect from this month for the days when they did not work during their union-backed “Action for Justice” held from Monday, February 18, to Monday, February 25.
In response to the letter, the teachers met and discussed the matter with Elshot on Wednesday. They also signed and submitted a letter to the school board requesting that it reconsider its decision.
In its letter to the teachers the board said it would be applying the tenet of “no work, no pay.” The board also indicated that the monies would be deducted over a two-month period.
Commenting on the board’s decision last night, one teacher told The Daily Herald that should the board apply the tenet of “no work, no pay,” she and her colleagues would have to apply the tenet of “no pay, no work,” and hopefully, as was the case during the one-week “action for justice,” all teachers would
Elshot said the board’s decision was “unjustified,” especially taking into account that all discrepancies had been cleared up at the end of the “Action for Justice” that had been mounted by teachers at public and private secondary and elementary schools to protest delays in the payment of their increased salaries in keeping with new salary scales retroactive to August 1.
Elshot said the SVOBE’s decision could be costly, as teachers were preparing students for examinations at the moment. She advised the board not to “upset” the teachers and to re-examine its plan.
Elshot also told this newspaper last night that WITU was drafting a letter that would be sent to the school board.
