Following industrial action taken today by staff at the Barbados Community College (BCC), talks are set to continue tomorrow, October 1, at 10:30 a.m.
This follows a request from the NUPW earlier today, which Principal Annette Alleyne confirmed she has accepted.
The meeting will address ongoing concerns surrounding the appointment of an individual to a vacant post at the college. A previous session scheduled for Monday, September 29, was not attended by shop stewards.
In a statement, Alleyne stressed that the college has been focused on ensuring minimal disruption for students during the industrial action.
“Classes went ahead today despite the action taken by some staff members. And I expect that evening classes will not be affected. I walked around the campus and got the sense that things were progressing as normal. Based on our count, the action began with about 20 staff members and grew to about 60. Now, regarding the meeting, we welcome the opportunity to continue dialogue with our staff members on a way forward,” she said.
The principal also responded to wider issues raised, including claims regarding the college’s relationship with the National Transformation Initiative (NTI). She said the partnership was initiated by staff through a proposal to broaden the range of courses offered, and not imposed by the Chair of the Board.
“This was not forced on us by the Chair of the Board. Furthermore, we were in partnership with the NTI before Dr. Leacock became the Chair at BCC. We partnered with the NTI since 2020, and signed an MOU to that effect in 2021. In fact, one of the KPIs in our work plan 2021–2022 set out a continued collaboration as one of our goals, and this has been ongoing in our work plans since then. I want to add that all of the College’s work plans are shared with members of staff, so they should be aware that this collaboration goes way back,” Alleyne explained.
On the matter of the vacant post, Alleyne rejected claims that the NUPW intervened in the interview process. She said the Union raised concerns about the sequence of advertising but did not interrupt or interfere with the interviews themselves.
Talks tomorrow are expected to continue efforts to resolve the dispute and chart a way forward.
