Teachers Petition Their Union Leaders

Last Thursday the BNTU Council of Management's decision to accept government's proposal and call off their strike by a 8 to 2 vote divided the once unified group of teachers. And so in an attempt to reign in the perceived excessive power of their leaders, 206 teachers have signed on to a ten-point petition requesting a special BNTU conference to "inquire into the actions and take corrective action to prevent any recurrence of unilateral action by the Council of Management." The petition notes that the Council of Management vote was taken publicly with "misrepresentation and undue influence." It goes further by indicting the BNTU Council of Management for a decision, which can be interpreted as a betrayal of the NTUCB. Despite the tone of the request, a union member says the intention is not to remove their President Anthony Fuentes. The special meeting will be to determine corrective actions to ensure it never happens again which probably will include changing of the Union's constitution. The meeting is being called under section 2 of rule 4 of the BNTU's byelaws. It required 200 signatures and they got 206. The request along with the signatures was today presented at the BNTU Headquarters and the Council of Management has 21 days within which they have to call the meeting.