Members of the Anguilla Teachers’ Union began staging a sit-in on Tuesday this week, accusing the Government of Chief Minister Hubert Hughes of a “recurring display of total disregard and disrespect” for them. The matter has arisen out of the non-payment of monies owed to civil servants in salary deductions amounting to some thirty-two million dollars.
The complaints of the teachers were communicated in a letter from President of the Teachers’ Union, Emma Ferguson, to Chief Minister Hughes and copied to Minister of Education, Edison Baird. The letter, dated January 3, 2013, which was also distributed to the media, is printed elsewhere in this edition of The Anguillian.
In a separate document, also made available to the media, the Teachers’ Union set out the position of its members as follows:
“Teachers are asking the Government of Anguilla to do the following:
1. Issue a written statement to each teacher outlining the amount of money owed to him or her.
2. Put measures in place immediately to ensure that our beneficiaries get the money owed to us in case we die before it [is] paid.
3. Give us a written plan on how they plan to pay us monies owed. This plan should include specific dates.
4. No more salary cuts going forward.
5. Any related legislation must not be discussed or passed without our involvement.
6. We do not agree to the January 31, 2013 cut-off date for the “Deferred Salary Mechanism” until all our issues above are satisfactorily addressed.
7. Treat us with respect, recognize our profession as noble. After all we are the backbone of this nation.”
The sit-in, staged by the teachers on Tuesday, came just before the House of Assembly met to consider two duty-free motions moved by Chief Minister Hughes. The motions were with respect to the Anglican Church and Zemi Beach Hotel/Condominium Development.
The teachers came under fire from members of the Government’s side of the House after a protracted debate surrounding those motions.
Chief Minister Hughes, who reviewed portions of the letter from the Teachers’ Union, asked: “Has the Anguilla economy increased sufficiently to give the teachers and civil servants money? [Is] the only item of development and responsibility the Government of Anguilla has is to pay out civil servants and teachers money? What about education? What about the general infrastructure [and] all the other needs that a country has to meet?”
He continued: “Madam Speaker, these people are most ridiculous. They are most ridiculous. At least they can go to the shop and buy food for their children – and our construction workers can’t. The workers at Cap Juluca can’t. Those 180 people laid off at Malliouhana can’t, and a lot of the other smaller hotels are limping because of the global recession which continues. These people [the teachers] are privileged.
“I have an obligation to them that they are talking about? Madam Speaker, tell them: the message is loud and clear. I have no obligation to discuss with them under duress. You see this paper they sent here to me? I can’t believe it came from people who can read and write. I can’t believe it. That’s why our children are so unstable today because they don’t get any leadership from our teachers. How could they be so ridiculous? How could they?”
At this point, Mr. Hughes began reviewing portions of the letter, stressing that he had no obligation to the teachers, and describing the matters raised by them as “foolishness”.
He said that as far as he was concerned, all the issues set out by the teachers were cancelled by him. “None of them will be addressed because there is no reason, no criteria, for addressing these issues,” he stated. “So that is my message loud and clear…Tell them thanks very much, but this letter is a waste of paper and I couldn’t believe it came from people who call themselves teachers.
“My message is loud and clear. I owe them no obligation – none whatsoever. I did not increase their pay. I am not responsible for their pay coming back down because it could not be sustained…I am not here to be manipulated politically by any group. We owe them nothing. Society owes them nothing. They are being paid as much as the economy can afford. We will not give them what the economy cannot afford. That is my message. That is my reply.”
