Ailing?National Union of Public Workers (NUPW)?general secretary Denis Clarke has described the Alexandra School impasse as “a storm in a tea cup”.
Clarke told the MIDWEEK?NATION that the issue between the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU)?and outspoken Alexandra School principal Jeff Broomes warranted more dialogue, rather than industrial action.
“The BSTU should have in the first instance, if they objected to his criticism of a senior teacher, had an audience with him to put him straight and if they did not get satisfaction, they should have taken their case to the Ministry of Education. They did not do that,” he said.
“They have talked about following the correct procedures but they haven’t done so. It isn’t that they tried to meet with Broomes and he refused to meet with them,”
His comments came as BSTU president Mary Redman was making it clear that her union was not prepared to back down from its now six-day-old protest action in support of more than 30 teachers at the Alexandra School who walked off the job a week ago citing a list of grievances, including remarks made by Broomes at the December 2 awards ceremony.
Read the full story in today’s MIDWEEK NATION.
