3rd March
Performance Evaluation Clause Could Create Added Tension In BUT Contract Talks
By Quincy Parker
A government official told the Journal on Thursday that performance evaluation is crucial to the industrial agreement government is seeking with the Bahamas Union of Teachers, and that there will be no such agreement without some sort of merit pay system.
On Wednesday, hundreds of furious teachers flocked to Rawson Square to demonstrate their outright rejection of the government’s opening position in the negotiations, calling the proposal "nonsense" and "an insult to teachers."
"We came here today as educators to let the people of the country and our politicians know that we will not tolerate being insulted the way they have insulted us with the counterproposal that they sent to us," BUT President Ida Poitier-Turnquest said. "It is not worth the paper that it is written on."
Prime Minister Perry Christie scolded the teachers, who brought traffic in the city’s centre to a halt with their raucous protest, which occurred more than a week before negotiations were even set to start.
Government’s response to the teachers’ demonstration was blunt. Minister of Education Alfred Sears accused the teachers of "holding a gun to the government’s head" and Mr. Christie chastised the teachers, intimating that they were setting a poor example for their students.
The Ministry of Public Service later in the day released a statement calling the protest "illegal," and "an irresponsible and reprehensible act."
One of the teachers’ main grievances was the government’s salary counter-offer. The teachers asked for a $12,000 raise each over the course of the proposed three-year agreement, as well as an immediate $4,000 lump sum payment each.
Ms. Poitier Turnquest told the Journal that there are about 3,500 people in the bargaining unit. If each teacher gets what the union is demanding, it would cost the government $56 million over the next three years.
A government source who asked not to be named called this demand "unrealistic" and reiterated the government’s statement that such an amount could not be accomplished without raising taxes.
The source also noted, as was claimed in the Public Service statement, that the industrial agreement offered the teachers was "consistent with" the agreement between government and the Bahamas Public Service Union, which government says covers about 80 percent of the public service.
"The government has no problem paying teachers (more) money…it has to be based on something," the source said.
The teachers claim that performance evaluation is impossible in a workplace where the product is human beings. The government source insisted that performance evaluation is non-negotiable, and that working out some type of performance evaluation with the teachers is "the way forward."
"Just about every industrial agreement in the country has a performance evaluation system in it now. That’s the way forward," said the source.
The government’s statement released late Wednesday held that the teachers had misrepresented a number of facts regarding the government’s counterproposal, relating to the length of the workday, the amount of leave teachers have and the performance evaluation.
The government source noted that while government feels that a longer school day would benefit the student population, teachers would not be called on to work more than the seven hours a day they currently work. The source explained that a teacher who worked until 5pm would not come in at 8:30am, but at whatever hour would allow that teacher to work seven hours.
Ms. Poitier-Turnquest said on Wednesday that "every teacher throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas has overwhelmingly rejected the proposal that they sent us."
The Ministry of Public Service statement concluded with the assertion that government will not be intimidated by the BUT or its actions, and will not negotiate in the streets or through the media.
Ms. Poitier-Turnquest conceded that the government’s counteroffer was merely the first step in a negotiation process, but said the union had expected "something with sense coming forth at the beginning."
Copyright Jones Communications Ltd. ©2005 - Nassau, Bahamas
