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Unions to unite
FLASHBACK: A guard ensuring the media were kept out of the Alexandra School compound during the industrial dispute. (Picture: Shaka Mayers.)
THE BARBADOS WORKERS’ UNION (BWU) is rallying with other trade unions to bring closure to the dispute between the principal of Alexandra School, Jeff Broomes, and the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU).
General secretary of the BWU, Sir Roy Trotman, will lead the “mediation exercise” by the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations (CTUSAB).
He announced at a Press conference yesterday that the BSTU, representatives of the Ministry of Education and leadership of the Barbados Association of Principals of Secondary Schools would meet with the management of Alexandra School before the next school term starts on January 5.
Sir Roy reported that he had met with CTUSAB general secretary Dennis Depeiza during the past week to discuss the dispute which has been ongoing since 2006.
He pointed out the matter had escalated last week, because of what he termed “unfortunate statements made in the Press”.
And he observed, while all concerned appeared “very keen” on having the matter resolved, it seemed as if there were “old wounds that need to be healed”.
“We in the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations will be able to make people understand that if we do not heal that matter at the Alexandra School then the school will not start back on the basis of normalcy,” he said.
Sir Roy warned that students of the school would be the victims of the failure to resolve the dispute, and he appealed to “all the protagonists” to respond to the union’s urgings to hold a meeting.
“Christmas cannot be that important that we would deny ourselves the opportunity to build a better Barbados and create a basis for positive behaviour in the north of the island,” the senior trade unionist said. “Christmas must not stand in the way.”
It was his view that “from the management down, they are all union people, and it ought not to be difficult for brothers and sisters to reason together”. (GC) (Nation News)