ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Public school teachers resumed classes on Friday after two days of industrial action over outstanding pay. On Friday morning, the Antigua-Barbuda Union of Teachers (ABUT) announced that classes would return to normalcy immediately.
“I am happy to report that we got the final set of cheques this morning,” said the union’s General Secretary, Sharon Kelsick. The union heads called an emergency meeting that morning to move a motion to restart classes.
Negotiations were underway for some time over the long-requested reclassification of salaries that would increase the pay for over 300 teachers. However, the payments and upgrades due for the period 2019 to 2021 to just a handful of remaining educators went unpaid.
With this, three days into the new school year, the teachers launched sit-ins, impacting the start of school for hundreds of students.
ABUT president Casroy Charles said that while the majority of teachers had been duly upgraded, about 20 educators were left out of the process.
He said despite the union’s efforts to resolve the issue, months later, some teachers had still not been appointed or paid.
Although the teachers are now back in the classroom, Charles expressed concern over the need for industrial action to resolve such matters.
“It’s always a concern when we have to reach this point to get what is owed. If the only way we can get what is due to us is by engaging in industrial action, then it sends the wrong message to our membership,” he said.
In addition to the salary dispute, Charles noted other unresolved issues, including the government’s failure to honor aspects of the bargaining agreement and the need to fence at least two schools.
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