The Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) is remaining cautiously optimistic over the possible reinstatement of the term’s leave for teachers.
Following Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s announcement in Parliament on Tuesday, BUT president Rudy Lovell told the DAILY NATION yesterday the union was glad to hear it but realised it was not yet a done deal.
“The fight isn’t over yet. The fight will be over as soon as we get the term’s leave reinstated. But for right now, we are excited by the prospect of it being reinstated. We are hopeful that the announcement will be followed by quick, decisive action, in terms of the meeting that the Prime Minister spoke about, and that meeting hopefully can lead to the reinstatement of the term’s leave as soon as possible, hopefully before the end of January,” he said.
Changes
In Parliament, Mottley said Government was now in a position to bring the issue to a close, though there would be changes.
“With respect to the teachers, I took the liberty of speaking to both the general secretary of the BUT and the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union in the last 24 hours and I’ve indicated that Government is now in a position to bring this long and vexatious matter to closure, recognising that there will obviously be need to put in place the long anticipated reintroduction of long leave for teachers.
“We want to do it from 2026, and therefore I expect that the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Service and the Ministry of Finance will have their initial meeting before the end of this year so that we can bring to a close what has been regrettably a period of absence of access.
“However, I suspect we will find a new name for it. [The term] long leave tends to have implications from the colonial era [and] we are not looking to do that. We want a new name for it and Government . . . will say to the unions, ‘let us come up with a name that recognises that this is a case of persons needing respite and recharge’. People are human and people sometimes need to step back, recharge and come again,” she said.
Lovell said while it was a relief to finally hear those words uttered after a decade of advocating for the return of the leave, the union was also interested in seeking some form of compensation for teachers who were disadvantaged.
“We know that a lot of persons have suffered by not having certain fees granted over the last ten years, and we would be grateful if the discussion could go into some means of awarding those persons who were disadvantaged over the period.
“Persons were still getting their first and last term’s vacation leave, but persons who applied for their second, third and fourth leave, every five years, most of them did not get it. So we are hopeful that while the matter has been placed on the table for resolution, we’ll be grateful if some form of compensation can be given to those who have suffered as a result of not having the leave,” he said.
Compensation
The BUT president said this compensation did not necessarily have to be financial, adding the union was more than willing to discuss particulars once the meeting was held between the various state agencies.
“To be clear, we are not calling for anything right now. There’s supposed to be a meeting, so once that meeting has been called, we will put our cards on the table and go from there,” he said.
Lovell explained the original legislation determined teachers were eligible for term’s leave after 15 years and then once every five years. He said this was changed in August 2014 to teachers being eligible for the leave after 15 years and again only just before retirement, a move which was then said to be temporary.
In addition, Lovell said the BUT was tracking the announcement of the more than 2 000 workers acting in various positions who Mottley said would soon be receiving letters confirming their permanent appointment to the Public Service, a move which would also affect teachers.
He said they hoped this occurred “in the shortest possible time frame”, but said the union was querying what would happen to those who were recommended for appointments but were not acting in them. (CA)
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