Teachers slammed for ducking Tobago protest

As teachers throughout Trinidad participated in protest action for better wages, only about 25 percent turned out for the event in Tobago. Teachers who were absent from yesterday’s march in Tobago were called “mocking pretenders.” With chants of “We shall overcome” and placards stating “Without proper pay teachers will surely fly away,” the group of a struggling 100 first stopped at the Tobago House of Assembly Division of Education compound, where they beckoned the support of clerical staff before proceeding along the streets of downtown Scarborough to the APT James Park in Upper Scarborough.

Chairperson for the day’s proceedings, Ansen Mc Donald, chastised the absentees for sending a signal to the CPO that they were “a bunch of jokers.” “It is time that teachers in Tobago come out and show what they are worth. It is time that they stop hiding behind all sorts of excuses and a few of us come out and fight,” Mc Donald told supporters. “The same teachers who are not here today to fight with all their might for a just wage are the same teachers willing to fastrack the system and run to the Bahamas, to Bermuda, to Miami and New York for a better wage,” he said.