THE?BARBADOS SECONDARY TEACHERS UNION (BSTU) is ready to meet with the special Cabinet committee set up by the Prime Minister to resolve the impasse.
President Mary Redman dispatched a four-page letter to the committee yesterday outlining the reason for the BSTU’s no-show from Wednesday’s meeting that involved embattled Alexandra School principal Jeff Broomes and his representatives.
She said that copies had been dispatched to Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite, Minister of Labour Esther Byer-Suckoo and Parliamentary Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Harcourt Husbands.
“We are ready, willing and able to meet. We are keen to deal with a matter that has been with us for much too long.
“There was never any reason for this situation to reach the stage of a withdrawal of labour. This should have been dealt with years ago,” she said.
Redman said the teachers were hurting too, adding that the more than two dozen Alexandra teachers, who have been off the job since January 4, badly wanted to return to the classroom but could not do so in a hostile environment.
“The teachers are hurting. They have the children at heart and want nothing more than to teach, but they can’t go back to an uncomfortable environment.
“The teachers have rights too. They have rights to basic things. The conditions at Alexandra are not conducive to teaching and learning. The teachers are only human. They can’t deal with what is happening at Alexandra any more. They have a right to have something different,” she said.
Redman said that the BSTU?remained unfazed by the criticism it had received over the last few days.
