We also want to welcome our retired members who steadfastly continue to support the efforts of their BSTU.

Welcome to the media and we look forward to full coverage of our event.

And a very special welcome to you our brothers and sisters in the BSTU and to others who may be joining us today from other unions as well as those workers not affiliated to any. We hope by the end of today that what you would have participated in here would have contributed to changing that status.

Since the last TPD, so much has happened and has been said by so many, especially those who should know better, that we should have been forced to ask ourselves: "Who in authority is promoting the concept of teachers as professionals as we continue to struggle under the most difficult of circumstances to fulfil our responsibilities?" Who is demonstrating any care and concern for us as we battle with increasing intensity to do so much with so little …. escalating indiscipline, no chalk, no paper, no ink, no chemicals in the labs, no soap or hand-towels in our bathrooms, serious threats to our persons and property at the workplace on a daily basis …. From whom in authority is there any demonstrated concern for our plight and recognition and support for our sterling efforts? How are they promoting acknowledgment and respect from persons in the wider society for our efforts?

The answer is that they have not ...instead, during the last year, more than at any other point in time that I can remember, we have been demeaned and belittled, not so much by the public as they are often wont to do ...but by those very persons who have direct responsibility for us and who should be — by their example — defending and uplifting us in the public eye. Those persons who know, or should know (depending on to what extent they truly make themselves privy to the real goings-on in schools) how difficult our task is and who objectively know how minuscule any real forthcoming assistance from them is. The Minister of Education, instead of leading by example and offering us encouragement, has instead publicly criticised and threatened us … we have been warned that we should not think that we "cannot be touched", that our Unions cannot come onto school premises, that we cannot continue our associations and relationships with the press … that there exists the possibilities not only of vicious and punitive transfers done in a way that our brother Ralph Jemmott here so masterfully described as "an unparalled act of lunacy" but — in the wilder mothings — we stand the risk of "having our heads cracked open" and being "shot"! Unfortunate, to say the very least, but certainly demonstrative of an uncompromising, unsupportive and hostile attitude. An attitude that has been extended towards fundamental freedoms taken as par for the course by workers in this country and a clear signal that now, more than at any other time in our recent history, we must afford ourselves of the membership, protection and support of our teacher Trade Unions.

There seems to be open warfare against us as teachers and against our representative bodies by some, not all, of those responsible for our very professional well-being and ironically from those who themselves headed organisations that purported to represent the interests of teachers. To the best of my knowledge, never before has the Ministry of Education had so many past trade unionists at its helm and all at the same time(albeit all of them being past Presidents of one particular Union)..yet, ironically, never before have so many backward, regressive anti-worker mouthings and policies emanated from that office.

The Nation newspaper of 9^th September, 2013 carried an article entitled "Angry Jones" in which the Minister of Education admonished the President of the BUT for highlighting the unreadiness at the beginning of the school year of a particular St. John primary school. The minister lambasted Bro. Shepherd and — in typical style — went on to warn both teachers and principals not to bring the Unions or the press on the school premises.

The Minister's comments are cause for concern to teacher Trade Unions on a number of levels and for a number of reasons. Some of these range from his blatant disregard for the constitutional rights of Barbadians to Freedom of Association; to the disregard of the ILO Conventions 87 and 98 (which deal with the Freedom of Association and the Right to Organise and the Right to Collective bargaining). Barbados is a signatory to these conventions which we have also ratified, this means that the principles espoused in them are reflected in our laws; yet the Minister would, by those very statements, seek to act ultra vires of the law and contrary to custom and practice in this country. He is also attempting to micro-manage at the level of the school and erode the power of the principals to make professional decisions and act on them. Who is he to unilaterally determine what is positive or negative work by any Union and to use that as a precondition for teachers to have representation in their workplace?

His statement also reflects a total disregard for the status of the Unions as equal partners in our Social Partnership. He goes against the very principle of Government being the model employer as outlined in the Protocols, the document that binds the partners together in a social compact as they work towards an improved industrial relations climate to achieve growth, development and equity in this society. How could an agent of the "model employer" be engaged in acts that deny workers some of their most basic and fundamental rights? These acts contradict the whole notion of model employment... and where are the admonishments and sanctions against him for such threats to an espoused and celebrated philosophy of governance in this country from those in a position to do so?

Well in spite of the public field day in relation to those comments on the radio and in the print media, the Chief Education Officer — almost three weeks later — circularised the schools expressing similar comments but confined his to restricting the presence of the press in schools. Again, such a directive goes against the constitutional rights of teachers and against custom and practice. The Ministry, among other things, is here trying to act as moderator for ALL statements coming from schools and encroaches on the access of persons to free speech. Our response to the Chief Education Officer in relation to this circular reads as follows:

The Barbadian public, as free and entitled citizens, has spoken loudly and eloquently on the many other aspects of foolhardiness in relation to the above comments by the Minister.

The only other comment of particular note to us in the Chief's Circular is his section 2(x) which states: "Principals should remind teachers that they must record their times in the appropriate book when they arrive at school;"

Our response stated:

That was an abbreviated form of a long document outlining our position which was written to the Ministry in May, 2009.

In relation to the rest of the Circular the BSTU had to chide the Chief with these words:

It just goes to show the total lack of caring, regard and respect from top officials … an attitude that permeates so much of what is said and done at that Ministry in recent times.

That ends our discourse on that much talked about circular.

As we move through another school year, we caution the Ministry of Education to concern itself with our professional needs and not to get "tied up" with minutiae. We don't need to be signing registers …especially those that cannot take into consideration where our workplace is and when our real times of work begin and end! Everyone knows that we do so much of our work at home and that our work does not stop when we leave the premises!

What we really need is the proper attention to be paid to our professional status and well-being:

...and finally and very importantly, I will quote from the same reply to the Chief's Circular … our concluding paragraph which was not a response to anything written but an opportunity to reinforce something we feel very strongly about the following:

In fact, we could add to this another very important recommendation from the Waterman Report, that which states that the consideration should be given to the strategic reorganisation of the Ministry of Education and the focussing of its staff so that the ministry operates more proactively and is more responsive to issues faced by the stakeholders in the school. He also goes on to say that the Ministry's senior staff should be trained in alternative dispute resolution.

Colleagues, Brothers and Sisters, the struggle continues. We need to fully support each other, especially as we move into increasingly uncertain economic times. The union will have to find novel ways to render assistance where it can.

We underscore the need for persons to join their colleagues and to strengthen the BSTU ...our strength lies in our determination, our numbers and unity. Let us, as always, uphold our professionalism while demanding our rights and protecting our interests.

• constraints of time: our officers are ALL volunteers, who are available only on a part-time bassi since they have their full-time substantive jobs, families, responsibilities and other commitments;
• lack of support from shop stewards: there's a lack of open and ready support of the Union's work and activities by some of its shop stewards. There are some schools from which the shop stewards have not attended even one executive meeting for the year, thus the hard work of the executive goes unknown and unnoticed;
• lack of support from the wider membership: there seems to be a large degree of complacency which – under ideal circumstances – could be interpreted to signify that the rank-and-file members are, to some degree, profoundly satisfied with the Union's work but lacking any clear understanding or appreciation of the real effort needed to do the Union's work;