A High Court judge has ordered teachers back to schoolrooms after granting an interim injunction to the Bahamas government against the Bahamas Educators Managerial Union (BEMU).
The parties are due to return before Justice Ellis this week where the union is expected to apply to have the interim order varied or dischargedThe High Court order also requires any BEMU officer or member employed by the Ministry of Education to return to his or her designated workplace when scheduled and prohibits members from taking sick leave without a valid sick certificate.
Justice Darron Ellis also ruled that union officials and members are prohibited from inducing, inciting or intimidating ministry employees in a way that impedes them from attending work or encourages them not to report.
BEMU president Stephen McPhee said his union had been attempting to have a meeting with the government for five months over outstanding promotions dating back to 2018 and was recently told that the earliest date for a meeting is September 14.
‘We are saying as a group … no longer will we allow you to pour new wine in an old wineskin,’ McPhee told a news conference, adding ‘as is written in the word, the bottle shall break.
‘We are at that point. We have begged. We have pleaded,’ he said adding that the union members were ‘standing on our strike certificate.’
Education Minister Chester Cooper, who said that most of the country’s 161 public schools remained open and operational, described the industrial action as ‘precipitous, disruptive and ‘disappointing’.
He denied the union’s claim that the government had failed to engage it, saying he met McPhee in August and that the union president subsequently held a two-hour meeting with the permanent secretary and director.
Cooper said the union submitted a list of concerns on or about August 24 and that he asked for time to work with the Public Service Commission and other government agencies, with discussions expected to resume on September 14.
‘I have an open-door policy for all unions, and when issues arise, particularly those requiring coordination with other government agencies, we commit to addressing them,’ he added.