The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Union of Teachers put more than 1,400 members on “industrial action alert” yesterday after teachers rejected the government’s financial counterproposal for a sixth time, deepening a pay dispute that has dragged on since last year.

BUT president Belinda Wilson said teachers from Grand Bahama to Inagua logged on to an emergency general membership meeting yesterday morning and again rejected the government’s offer.

“The Government has sent the same financial counterproposal from April 15th 2026 that you have REJECTED five times,” Mrs Wilson told members. “Again, you the members, have REJECTED the same financial counterproposal this morning.”

She said members had already voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action and were now on “industrial action alert”.

Mrs Wilson later said the government had been informed of the union’s latest rejection. The development raises the prospect of further disruption in the public education system during a week already marked by industrial action from school administrators and a Supreme Court injunction ordering them back to work.

It also marks the latest escalation in negotiations that began in October 2025 and have repeatedly stalled over financial issues.

Mrs Wilson said last month that teachers are seeking a 20 percent salary increase over three years and accused the government of repeatedly returning with a salary package the union had already rejected. At the time, she said all non-financial articles had been agreed, leaving the proposed salary increase and other finance-related provisions unresolved.

She also accused the government then of failing to provide a rationale or supporting data for its offer and argued that senior Ministry of Finance officials needed to become directly involved in negotiations.

The union had been warning of possible industrial action for months.

In May, Mrs Wilson said negotiations were “99.9 percent complete” but maintained that she would not sign an agreement that reduced benefits for teachers. She directly appealed to Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis at the time as the remaining financial issues persisted.

The dispute continued into July, when Mrs Wilson accused the government of walking away from negotiations and demanded that talks resume with an updated financial counterproposal and a mediator present. Government officials disputed the suggestion that negotiations had been abandoned. She also lashed out in July over the proposed recruitment of up to 300 Ghanaian teachers, questioning how the government could move quickly to negotiate their possible deployment while the BUT had spent about ten months trying to secure salary increases for more than 2,000 Bahamian teachers.

The latest rejection follows an August 27 membership meeting and survey in which Mrs Wilson said 80.5 percent of respondents rejected the government’s salary counterproposal and 81.1 percent rejected its proposed maximum salary scale.

She said 84.8 percent voted to take industrial action if an agreement was not reached after a three-day deadline.

Mrs Wilson said on Monday that she had written to the government and that the deadline would expire at midnight on Wednesday.

No agreement was reached before teachers met yesterday morning.

The union has not disclosed what form any industrial action could take or when it might begin.

Mrs Wilson previously warned that industrial action can take several forms and declined to say which one the BUT would use if negotiations failed.

Reports circulated online yesterday morning that some teachers had arrived late to school, but Mrs Wilson did not confirm that the union coordinated the lateness. Education officials acknowledged that some teachers reported late but could not say more.

Director of Education Dominique McCartney-Russell could not be reached despite several calls and a message.

The BUT standoff comes as the government grapples with a separate dispute involving the Bahamas Educators Managerial Union.

More than 90 percent of BEMU’s membership joined industrial action this week, resulting in public schools across the country being dismissed early before Justice Darron Ellis granted an interim injunction restraining the union and its members from continuing the action.

BEMU president Stephen McPhee said members subsequently returned to work but maintained that the grievances that triggered the action had not been resolved and that relations with the government were “not in a good place”.

BEMU has raised longstanding concerns over promotions, disputed postings and an industrial agreement that expired in 2025.

Mr McPhee said this week that some promotions had been addressed but other matters remained outstanding.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis offered a different assessment after meeting BEMU representatives following talks involving Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Chester Cooper.

Mr Davis said the union came to update him after meeting Mr Cooper and indicated that matters had been worked out.

“I was very concerned about the actions they took,” Mr Davis said, “and all is well that ends well.”

Mr McPhee subsequently maintained that BEMU’s underlying concerns remained unresolved.