A noticeably satisfied Mary Redman, president of the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU) reported that they finally received notice of grievance procedures.
Redman’s comments came as she addressed the media after a meeting that was held at Solidarity House yesterday evening. Following the near four hour meeting she expressed that they did not get to deal with all the issues that they set out to discuss due to the packed agenda.
“After eight months we are actually going to get that grievance procedure,” she said.
She added that since the grievance took so long to happen, another cancellation would “really be incurring the wrath of membership since the meeting should take place on the 23rd [of May].” This procedure will address what the Union termed as “the unfair dismissal” of a teacher that previously taught at the St. Michael’s Secondary School a few months ago.
“We have gotten the grievance procedure that we needed to get and we are of the belief that common sense, decency, caring and empathy will prevail and we will be able to address the other two matters at the level at which they have been taken up to,” she said.
She explained that yesterday’s meeting was to update the members on the status of the three cases of unfair dismissal. In the instance regarding the lab technician who was unfairly dismissed at the Combermere Secondary School, Redman noted that a letter was sent to the Chief Labour Officer in an effort to resolve the matter.
In the case involving a teacher from the Learning Centre, she noted that a letter was sent off to the Ministry of Labour in an attempt to get her to intervene on the matter. Redman noted that their efforts to resolve the matter at the level of the school did not work which is why they went to the Ministry of Labour.
She said that in regard to the cases surrounding the lab technician and the teacher from the Learning Centre, they were ensuring they followed procedure as there are different sets of legislative procedures that need to be adhered to since the lab technician was not classed as a teacher and the teacher from the Learning Centre taught at a private school.