Members of the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas (UTEB) at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) staged a protest at the school’s campus on Tuesday voicing their concerns about outstanding issues with the school’s administration.

UTEB First Vice President, Anastasia Brown told reporters that BTVI administration is attempting to renegotiate their agreement. She said, “we still work 40, 50 60 hours. People think that because we’re teacher we only work certain amount of hours. They don’t know the planning that goes behind, the marking, the preparation that goes behind it. The term of the hours needs to be addressed. We still have Bahamians on contract. The Prime Minister of The Bahamas said no reason why Bahamians should be on contract in a government entity. So why are you trying to give our Bahamians three year contracts? There are contracts that are expired. We’re trying to make sure when the person’s come in the fall that they are sure. Nobody wants to go round wondering whether they have a sure job today or tomorrow. So they are some of the things that are happening.”

According to Brown UTEB has not received any replies to correspondence sent to the Director of Labour outlining three of their concerns. “So we’ve written to the Minister of Labour. We’ve written to the Minister of Education and we’re hoping to get a response. We outlined and detailed issues that we have and we’re hoping that they will respond and deal with it immediately.”

The Office of the Board of Directors at BTVI released a statement on the matter saying, “BTVI and the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas (UTEB) signed an historic agreement in July 2023 with several supplementary clauses that remained to be negotiated after the signing. Some of the outstanding matters are being reviewed and addressed as quickly and systematically as the institution is able.”

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