Response by TTUTA leaves bitter taste

It is widely believed that the role of the union representing the majority of teachers in the country would be one of negotiation and resolution of issues in a win/win model or, if not, as close to that as possible.

Encouraging teachers to leave their charges and classrooms to protest outside the parameters is certainly not what we want to teach our children.

There is already too much confrontation, strike, work-torule and go-slow action contributing to the “don’t care” and declining productivity in the workforce.

This is a bad precedent to set.

Now, there are several questions arising from the action taken by the protesting teachers and TTUTA officials.

For example, how come only 14 of the 48 teachers on staff were actively involved in the protest action? Is it that just over 25 percent of the staff support TT UTA or are members, and are we sure that this protest is not the action of these few teachers who are disgruntled because they have ulterior motives or personal issues with the school’s principal? It is common knowledge now that many workers in TT have very low work ethic and use their collective strength to force employers or administrations to allow them to get away with indifferent and “don’t-care” behaviour in the workplace.

If this is the case, TT UTA needs to take a rain check on some of these protests and not set a precedent whereby members will use the union conveniently to get their way.

WKS HOSEIN Chaguanas