The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Union of Teachers (BUT) president Belinda Wilson has filed a trade dispute against the government for allegedly “victimising physical education teachers” - and also claimed that female students had been pinched by a replacement coach.

The action is her latest in the feud between the Ministry of Education and BUT. It constitutes the third trade dispute she has filed against the government this year.

She claims PE teachers and coaches who participated in the work-to-rule action last year to protest the government’s failure to address teachers’ concerns are being punished by not being allowed to coach students in junior and senior high school sports this year.

Other teachers and non-teachers have been chosen to replace them, she said.

In one case, she said she has received complaints from a school about female students being pinched and cursed by a non-teacher contracted to coach them.

In response to her claims, Education Director Lionel Sands said the decision on who coaches students during after-school programmes is not made by the Ministry of Education, but by the New Providence Association of Public High School Principals (NPAPHSP), a body that gives contracts to people to perform the “extra duties” of coaching high school sports.

He said the principals in the NPAPHSP “exercised their rights to replace the (PE)  teachers after they withdrew their services to be a part of work-to-rule last year.”

Mr Sands said the NPAPHSP is responsible for finding coaches for after-school programmes and that those coaches do not have to be PE teachers.

“The Ministry can’t dictate to that Association what they should do because they do have their bylaws which they should abide by.

The Principals Association is responsible for after school sports. Normally they would engage physical education teachers, but they don’t have to,” he said.

Mrs Wilson said the letter informing PE teachers they won’t be allowed to coach students in after-school programmes this year “came from Trevor Mckay, President of the Principals Association.”

“She has no power or authority from which to act but information I’ve received is that she’s acting on info from the Minister of Education,” she said.

“Teachers cannot be punished or disciplined for work-to-rule. What I really want to say to the Ministry officials is that we’ve been at odds long enough and the Union has proven on more than one occasion that we are right, that they are in breach of the Industrial Agreement and in breach of labour laws and what we would like for them to do is to cease being in breach of the industrial agreement and labour laws and come to the table and have talks with us.”