The Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) has strong objection to the seeming “open warfare” against its members and the union itself.
In her first public response to the September 8 statements made by Minister of Education Ronald Jones about the presence of media and union representatives on school compounds, president Mary Redman yesterday expressed concern at the treatment meted out to them by some people in the Ministry of Education who were responsible for “our professional well-being”, and who themselves would have led unions in Barbados.
“There has never been before so many past trade unionists at the helm in the Ministry of Education. Three past presidents, albeit of the same union, but now that we have three past presidents in strategic positions at the Ministry of Education, unions and teachers are under attack like never before.
“We’ve had so many backward, regressive anti-worker mouthings and policies emanating from that office,” Redman noted.
She said Jones’ comments were cause for concern on many levels and for a number of reasons. She cited Freedom of Association, the relevant International Labour Organization conventions which spoke to the rights to association, organize and collective bargaining, and queried why Jones would want to act contrary to the law, customs and practice of Barbados.
