The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Union of Teachers (BUT) Acting President Zane Lightbourne yesterday hit out at a “small group” of individuals he claimed is “hell bent” on creating “distraction, division, and misinformation” about the union’s internal affairs.

Although he did not call names, Mr Lightbourne said the people “are not happy with the tough decisions we have had to make when it came to suspending some officers.”

One person in particular, he said, has been “running to the courts” to get some “satisfaction” with regards to the suspensions.

Mr Lightbourne also dismissed rumours that the BUT has “signed away” its insurance package in anticipation of the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI) and that come June, teachers will no longer be insured under its current package. He said the rumours were likely also the handiwork of that same group of individuals.

In December 2014, BUT President Belinda Wilson and Treasurer Lorraine Knowles were suspended due to concerns from the union’s executive committee that more than $1.1m from the union’s pension and savings account was wrongfully spent.

Mrs Wilson and Ms Knowles were initially suspended for six and three months respectively; however, Mrs Wilson has since been suspended twice more.

Nonetheless, the suspensions triggered weeks of contention between Mrs Wilson and BUT officials.

“I wouldn’t like to call names but I know that there are some persons - a small group - that are not happy with the tough decisions we have had to make when it came to suspending some officers,” Mr Lightbourne said yesterday. “And since their suspension, I can say that some of these officers, one in particular, has been running to the courts to try and get their own satisfaction there. They have been sending and pushing persons to either call, they have been writing letters, they have been trying to sabotage and block any progression of the union.”

Mr Lightbourne also refuted the “myth” surrounding the cancellation of the BUT’s health insurance plan. He also said the union is in the process of implementing a “proper pension trust similar and competitive with all other union pension trusts that exists.”

“We resent the scare tactics and myths surrounding our current health insurance plan and the implementation of National Health Insurance,” he said. “We wish to assure our members that our current plan is protected and we are presently pushing for an improvement in its structure.

“Our focus is to unite the (BUT) because we have had a rough few years. Unfortunately we can identify one common denominator in the whole equation. Unfortunately, even after working with four consecutive executive committees, instead of apologising and trying to assist in rebuilding, this individual and a small group seems hell bent on distraction, division and misinformation,” he said.