Strike Entering Week Two

As I reported last week, women teachers came to school last Tuesday to inspect girls' bags as they entered school. All went well although a teachers strike had been called. They were talking about returning on Wednesday to see what was happening. There were several teachers around Wednesday morning, but since then teachers employed by the Teachers' Service Commission (government employees) haven't been seen.

Our Board of Governors (similar to a local school board) hires and pays the salaries of teachers that haven't yet been accepted by TCS in order to keep our class size at 50 students. They are all young people that have graduated from university and are licensed to teach. However, it takes about 3 years before they are accepted into the government system to become members of TSC, basically because of bureaucracy and corruption.

Those BOG teachers and myself have been teaching since Thursday. I have heard the voices of several of the TSC teachers so they have been on the compound, but they have not been in their offices or in class. Saturday I asked one of the BOG teachers if he thought the TSC teachers were honoring the strike because they thought it was the right thing to do or because they had been intimidated. He replied that he seen a text message sent by one of the teachers' unions that threatened bodily harm if teachers broke the strike. (Most of the TSC teachers did teach during last year's strike until we were chased away by union officials.)

Who knows how long this situation will continue. The Industrial Court ruled on Friday that the strike was legal. Friday the Secretaries of Labour, Education and Treasury met with the two teachers' unions. They have reached agreement on 38 out of 39 issues. The one issue still unresolved is basic salary. The unions are asking for harmonization (equality) of salaries of all public servants. Unfortunately, many people in government jobs (many of whom are uneducated) receive far higher salaries than teachers, some up to 100 or even 200 times more.

There was an ugly article in toady's paper coming from the Secretary of Education. He was quoted as saying the reason union officials wanted hired basic salaries for teachers is because that would increase the amount of money coming into the unions and therefore affect their salaries.

The unions and TCS are summoned to appear in court on Wednesday to resolve matters. However, it's a common occurrence for a party not to appear in court when summoned claiming unforeseen circumstances.

John's school, Weaver Bird, hires their own teachers so they don't have any TSC employees. Therefore, they are teaching classes. The unions have threatened to close down the better private schools also. I don't think they will have the ability to do that.

Meanwhile, the 366 girls that have reported to St. Monica's continue to work in their classes independently using notes from last year's students and materials they have.

Let's pray the strike will come to an end soon.