And with the PSU joining the BNTU in their strike action, industrial agitation is expected to ramp up considerably.
But what does this mean for the teachers who are not working? We asked executive members of the union if they were concerned about their salaries being docked - to which they responded that they knew it was a possibility but one worth the risk.
Today, president Elena Smith clarified that - from her union's interpretation - the Ministry has no say in the docking of salaries - and is not supposed to interfere:
Elena Smith, President, BNTU
"We are aware that the Ministry has been asking, requesting, managing authorities to do so, that is not the job of the ministry, it is the job of the managing authority and they should not be asked by any other entity to do that or encouraged or whatever word we want to use, nobody should do that, it should be them alone making that decision."
