The Bahamas Unions of Teachers (BUT) is still considering carrying out industrial action even after President, Belinda Wilson confirmed on Monday that she has received a response from the Office of the Prime Minister to a letter she and Bahamas Public Services Union President (BPSU), Kimsley Ferguson delivered on October 15th.

The internal poll of BUT members showed that 87.8% of respondents are in favour of industrial action and 92% support a strike vote. Wilson informed reporters that a second poll was sent out on Monday. She said, “you would note that industrial action is not only marching or protesting. There are various levels of industrial action. So we have sent out the survey to our members to find out what form of industrial action we’re going to take and when and what time and what date, so stay tuned.”

In June, Prime Minister, the Hon. Philip Davis promised that public service workers would receive pay increases in September, 2025. Those payouts were put off to December, 2025. At protests staged by members of the BUT and BPSU the Prime Minister assured that payments would be received before Christmas. Payments were made in November. However, the amounts were not satisfactory. According to Wilson some BUT members did not receive anything while others received between $150-$341.

Prime Minister Davis expressed his disappointment to the reaction of workers on Friday past. Wilson told reporters the feeling is mutual. “We expected to receive salary increased between 2% and 8% as he articulated, not only in his budget communication and in the House of Assembly subsequently, but also in meetings with us,” she said.

Wilson continued saying, “we did not receive equal to others who would have received $3,000 up.

The BUT President also shared some of the response she received to her letter from the Office of the Prime Minister. She said, “they’ve also said there’s no other salary review, that whatever they’ve submitted to us is all that they have.”

When asked, Wilson did not release the amount of BUT members who took part in the survey. However she did say it was an overwhelming amount.