PHILIPSBURG--After three days of meetings, the members of Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) have returned to their classrooms.
The board of the union issued a letter to Minister of Education Culture Youth and Sport (ECYS) Rodolphe Samuel and to all school boards on Thursday stating that no further meetings will take place at this time and members had been instructed to return to their respective schools.
This came after the union representative’s request to meet with government was honoured on Wednesday afternoon. The union was invited to a meeting with Prime Minister and Minister of General Affairs Silveria Jacobs, the Ministers of ECYS and Finance, and Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT). During this meeting both parties were able to sit a discuss all of the union’s issues and concerns.
WITU President Stuart Johnson stated in response to a request for comment from The Daily Herald that WITU had been able to present all of its issues at this meeting. Key points highlighted by Johnson were discussions on the payment of vacation allowance for this year with the continued payments annually and salaries going up one step on the salary scale at the end of August.
He said the union was also promised documents including an overview of assessments whether teachers were placed in their right functions and scales by the categories A, B, or C teacher. “All of these issues didn’t stem from the cost-cutting measures, but issues that were pre-pandemic.”
He explained that one of the key points of the discussion was reminding the government of the importance of communications.
“It is very important that the culmination of the general membership meetings that happened over the past three days was due to the lack of proper communication as responding to the WITU. That was one of the main cardinal points that was addressed,” said Johnson. “Now that the challenges have been documented and grievances in public education, per school, the government also has the opportunity now to ensure it works on that trajectory.”
Johnson said WITU will continue to monitor the outcome of the meeting.
