Teachers from both campuses stood near St. Maarten Academy, joined by the WITU board.
L.B. SCOTT ROAD--St. Maarten Academy teachers from both the academic and PSVE campuses walked out of their classrooms and stood unified while demanding full and fair payment of their outstanding vacation pay.
Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) board members met with Academy PSVE teachers early Wednesday morning. The teachers had reached out to the union after receiving concerning correspondence from the Foundation for Academic and Vocational Education (FAVE) school board regarding options for receiving their vacation pay.
The members sought their union’s representation moving forward with any further correspondence with the school board, including WITU’s presence in a scheduled meeting between teachers and the board on Wednesday morning.
The Daily Herald was informed by one of the members/teachers that in the email sent to teachers on Tuesday, they were presented with a proposal that outlined two options. The first option was to take a 3% vacation payment, which would be received this Friday, and the other 3% in December. With this option teachers would also have to forfeit 30 vacation days. In option two they would get a 3% payment in March/April and forfeit 15 vacation days.
Teachers were not in agreement with the proposal and conditions put forth by the board and insisted on receiving their vacation pay in full. They noted that the email left many questions unanswered.
The PSVE teachers marched towards to the academic campus, where they met and joined with teachers from the academic campus. The teachers stood together in a unified stance, refusing to return to their classrooms until the meeting between WITU and the school board had taken place. Windward Islands Chamber of Labor Unions (WICLU) chairperson and former WITU president Claire Elshot was also present in solidarity with the teachers.
The newspaper understands that the meeting did take place after some time.
WITU President Stuart Johnson informed this newspaper that the teachers will receive the full 6% payment of their vacation allowance by next week Wednesday.
