Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) President Belinda Wilson provided an update on negotiations with the government for a new industrial agreement on Wednesday. Questions were raised by reporters about the process particularly since an industrial agreement was signed between the government and the Bahamas Educators, Counsellors and Allied Workers Union (BECAWU) in April.
Wilson was asked why the BUT continues to press its concerns when other unions have reached agreements. She said, “the other teachers union, they are indebted to the government because the government allegedly gave them registration against the law. I’m not indebted to any government, any politician, any minister of labour. We have that matter; that’s a live matter in the Supreme Court. So they have to bow and they have to bend. The Bahamas Union of Teachers is 79 years old, and we bend to no man.”
Officials of BECAWU responded to Wilson’s claims of their indebtedness to the government. President Keysha Laroda told ZNS News, “the registration of BECAWU has never been contested in court. BUT registration has been contested in court. BUT contested the recognition of BECAWU which is a separate issue from registration. So the congress leader is either mistaken or ignorant. Further, BECAWU doesn’t have to bend to any employer. We are trained, educated, sensible unionists whose interests is the membership and not self-exultation.”
BECAWU Area Vice President Michelle Outten also commented on Wilson’s claims. She said, “first and foremost let me state unequivocally the claim that BECAWU is in bed with the government is utter garbage. Perhaps, I think, what is difficult for some to accept is that a much younger union has accomplished a great deal in a relatively short time period. But grandstanding is not our goal.”
BECAWU was formed in the year 2020 and received its registration in 2021.
