The Independence Hill steps were the scene today of a peaceful protest staged by teachers from the Belmopan branch of the Teacher's Union. The highlight of the morning came when the a union rep read a circular from Chief Education Officer Maud Hyde informing them they won't be paid for the days they are on strike. Here were their reactions.
Union Rep Reading from Circular
'Therefore effective 24th January 2005 teachers are advised that salaries will not be paid for any day or portion of day during which they are on strike.'
[Teachers then burst into Solidarity Chant of 'We will not be moved with accompanying drum.']
Teacher #1: Obviously I am out here to voice my concern about the new taxes and the salaries that will not be paid to teachers that were promised. Also people are saying that children are not getting their education but when we have children who are out there, where was the concern at that time?
KS: You are not being paid for today when you are not in the classroom, will that make you return?
Teacher #1: I am prepared to make the sacrifice and I think a lot of teachers are also prepared to make that sacrifice.
KS: How long are you able to keep this up?
Teacher #1: As long as the union is requesting for us to be out of classes, I will support the cause. The concern is coming from teachers who see it and live it everyday in their classrooms. And this is what we are protecting, the rights of the children who at the end of the day will have to meet higher increases in school fees and increase across the board. We have parents with children who are starving and we see it first hand in the classroom.
Teacher #2: We are out here to protest for reforms. We want reforms for our country, we want no new taxes, and we want our 5% and 8% increase that was promised to us.
KS: Are you willing to sacrifice your salary?
Teacher #2: Yes we are. We are prepared to forego any deductions that they make to our salary.
KS: Again the Prime Minister continues to say that this is political and you guys are being manipulated by the politicians. What do you say to that?
Teacher #2: That is not true. We are fighting for the rights of all our teachers and for the rights of all the people of Belize. What we are doing today, and with the children out of school, is a social studies lesson for the children of Belize. From this our children will be learning that when they get older, they need to know how to stand up for their rights. So even though they might be saying that the children might be losing out, for us the children might be learning. It is a lesson for them.
Teacher #3: We are fighting for a common cause: no new taxes and we need reform. So far we have been getting promises and what we need to do is to send a message that the teachers, are not only fighting for our raise, but we are fighting against the injustices that have taken place over the years. We have taken a stand together as a group, the Belmopan Branch, we have become stronger than ever so we are taking a stand here. We have nothing to say other than we will stand together united as group.
KS: What are you doing with all this free time? Some people would say this is like a holiday for teachers.
Teacher #3: What we are doing as a group, we are uniting and informing our members so that the members keep informed as to what we are fighting for. People are saying we are fighting for the tax but we are fighting against the tax and the injustices that come along with it.
And despite their defiance, in the meetings today with the Prime Minister the union representatives asked for their pay for these days not be cut. Government we are told has now backed down from that stance.
And after peacefully chanting and protesting for about an hour, the unioners then headed over to the Belmopan Civic Center for that rally with two special guest speakers, political flavors of the week, Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde. The two rebel representatives repeated to the teachers the reasons they outlined yesterday for voting against Musa's budget. We note the appearance was by invitation of the Belmopan branch of the BNTU.
