B.U.T.: “Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide”
The Bermuda Union of Teachers noted this evening’s call for labour withdrawal and urged their members to “let your conscience be your guide.”
In a statement posted on social media, the B.U.T. said, “Good Day Brothers and Sisters, Please be advised that there has been a call for an Island Wide withdrawal of labour by the People’s Campaign tomorrow, Friday, 11th March, 2016.
“Brothers and Sisters, the matter of Immigration Reform is not directly related to our Collective Bargaining Agreement; Rather, it is a matter of National Significance. As citizens of this Great Island, we urge you to let your conscience be your guide.”
Earlier this evening, the People’s Campaign said they were “calling for an island-wide withdrawal of labour on Friday March 11th, 2016 as a show of people power and island-wide solidarity appealing to the Government to withdraw” the immigration legislation.
In response, Premier Michael Dunkley said the People Campaign’s call for withdrawal of labour is :both irresponsible and misconceived,” adding that the “Government calls on people of goodwill to reject this irresponsible call, attend to their places of business as normal and keep helping Bermuda move forward.”
The Government has said they are “anticipating industrial activity” and “there will likely be a disruption of public services,” and you can follow our live updates here.
Should I sacrifice the education of Bermuda’s youth in order to support the naked political ambitions of a group of people who were voted out of power by a majority of the electorate? Hmmm.
If the public school teachers have a conscience they will be where they should be: in the classroom instructing their students ensuring a stable environment for their charges. I know where the private school teachers will be and there, perhaps, lies the difference between the systems.
Nice to be proved wrong wasn’t it? Looks like the public school teachers do have a conscience
Our leaders need to talk to each other. “We feel the Love”, but can you feel my pain? Brother.
I can’t get out of bed to protest anything the OBA does.
Reason: I lived through the PLP tenure and now reside on ground zero in aftermath. Perhaps,in time the shell shock will subside,a quality leader will emerge and I can once again pride myself as a listener with an open mind.
The labour unions are not elected bodies…. Therefore using them to dictate the actions of an elected body such as our current government is, by definition undemocratic, simple as that folks…..
, after definition and . after undemocratic my bad
I am a teacher. I will be at work! My students come first! Any teacher not at work should quit! You don’t deserve the privelege to help our youth.
You’re a teacher but you spelled privilege wrong ..lol your one teacher who NEEDS to not come to work, you need to do a forever strike…lol
Probably on phone or ipad….
Kids come first, not manufactured propaganda for selfish political ambition.
You can tease me all you want for a typo at 5:30 this morning while I was still half asleep, but when your child is on the honour roll, college bound, starting their career, or their own business, you can thank me then for the hard work, self sacrifice and passion that I put into each and every lesson every day!
By the way, if you’re going to call out my typo, don’t have a grammar error! The word is “you’re”… you know a contraction of the two words “you are”… not the possessive “your”. Maybe instead of striking today, maybe you should take ENG0001!
Go teacher! What a great attitude, you are appreciated.
@ standing firm – looks like you need to go back to school and learn grammar
…you’re (not your) one teacher who needs to not go (not come) to work. Unless of course you know who the teacher is and he/she works with you.
See how easy it is to make a mistake.
you really are a rude individual aren’t you.
Oh- its so cute to correct peoples grammar, isn’t it? Get a life!
I never claimed to be a teacher lol this stuff is so funny
That was really rude, I am sure you have made a spelling mistake in your life. You’re insulting a teacher who is putting her/his students first. Maybe you should attack those who didn’t show up for work and left chldren stranded.
You all reely need to pay attention to you’re grammar. Your making to many spelling mistakes.
Thanks to people like you LEADING A POSITIVE EXAMPLE for the youth. They really need it! Thank you.
How are you a teacher and you spelled privilege wrong? And how would them taking a stand against government equate to them not deserving the privilege to help the youth? As a teacher its not a privilege its a duty, and its the duty of parents to teach their children about the stuff thats going on in the island with our government so they will be more informed
Because I typed at 5:30 this morning on a cell phone. I get up early everyday to plan my lessons! My students come first!
Kudos to you and thank you for being there for our children.
BAD EXCUSE!!!! The E and the I are on opposite sides of the keyboard!! NICE TRY…..I agree school is where you need to be!!!
Say what you like! I teach! I love my students! And I go over and beyond everyday to help people of all walks of life! That is a fact! What have you done???
@wha – thank you despite the spelling mistake. “privelege/privilege” is a common error. what is important is that you’ve put your students first.
yeah i know, i should use the correct capitalization…
Teaching is a privilege! If any teacher feels it is a duty… Get out the classroom!
Education is a right, not a privilege, every teacher before they became a teacher had the right to seek education in order to be a teacher.Teaching is not a benefit that is given to some people and not to others, You become a teacher because you qualify, and if you qualify to teach,then you have a responsibility to make sure your students learn. You have a duty to teach the students, who have a right to be educated, or else you will be fired losing your privilege to be called a teacher.
A duty is a moral or legal obligation; a responsibility and every teacher has a moral and legal obligation and responsibility to teach
If you say you dont have a duty then name the school you teach at and I will make it my duty to see that my children will never be taught by a teacher who lacks morality and responsibility and thinks its only a privilege (a special opportunity to do something that makes you proud)and not a duty.
So you say I lack morality because I truly believe that having the opportunity to shape young minds is a privilege?
Teachers that consider their jobs a duty go through the motions.
Sorry, I don’t go through the motions… I work my butt off day in and day out to help people of all walks of life. I seek out at risk children in my neighbourhood and tutor them for free…
What have you done to help???
I have been doing this for two decades and I get results! Students and parents love my teaching and admire my passion and energy! So if you don’t want your children to pass through my class… that’s your choice! But those that have and continue to do so… have had one of the best teachers they have had in their lives! And that is a fact evidenced by the comments on my evaluations by parents, students, and administrators year in and year out!
Why don’t you do something to help the young, instead of bashing one of the most passionate teaches out there!!
actually I understand why you are going to school….you need too considering you spelled privilege wrong and now bad grammar! Did you mean “get out OF the classroom” Either your not a teacher or you need to go back to school! Scary!!
Tease me all you like… I care about my students and they know it, their parents know it, and the community knows it! I am no keyboard warrior like suspicious and Justice, I am a trenches worker that gets in deep every day! So go ahead and make fun of my error from 5:30 am… I know what I do makes a difference every day! What have you done? Sit on your butt and complain… I choose to dig deep and teach!
Good for you . With the standard of education at the present time children can not afford to miss more days off. This is one reason why parents sacrifice to put their children in private school. As a retired teacher I have never voted and never would . The children always came first
Thank you. We need more like you around.
My conscience is my guide… I will be teaching! We as teachers need to educate our youth so that they can qualified to take the high paying careers or empowered to create their own companies. Me skipping work today robs my students of that opportunity. So by being in my class today I am standing as an advocate for my students! Call me whatever vile or disgustong thing you want… I am going to teach today and every other day! BUT… You seem to forget we teachers have a responsibility to our children. Shame on all of you!
Any teacher not at work today should be fired! Then we can finally weed out the trash teachers that don’t care about our students and are just there for a paycheck. We can fill their spots with highly motivated, caring, passionate, competent, results based teachers like me!
$21,000 a year private school “priceless”
expensive
Worth every penny on days like today.
Though in the end th children will end up learning the same basic things in college or university. Which cost less than your average private school. $21,000 to give your kids a good education that will land them in the same place as a public school child. What is the true gain here? They don’t get life lessons in private schools or learn the non academic life skills that public school children get. So who is really winning?
Yes, because life only happens in public schools… (most sarcastic voice ever)
comparing exam results between public and private I will say the latter is definitely ‘winning.’
A few thousand less than what is spent on per student in the public system.
Look at the difference in results for the money!!!!
I get to pay for 3 kids in private AND my taxes pay for three places in them for public….. I think the public places would cost the system more than the private fees, nobody has thanked me yet though.
People with kids in private school should be thanked for taking the double hit.
Meanwhile private school children will be in school today getting their education being prepped to run our economy in the future… While our public kids sit in limbo not getting educated
Will be those of us. Bermudians from all walks of life…that will go to work and not give into this social drama
I salute all of you that go to your jobs and continue to help build Bermuda and not tear it down. You are the heroes today and not the others!!!!
The rest of you have a nice day.
The supporters of this are urging parents to bring their children to a protest. They will get to sing and dance…no doubt the Gombeys will be there. What will the kids think? “This is great! No school and we get to have alot of fun. I LOVE strikes.” Disgusting. I feel sorry for the teachers who are trying to teach the children right from wrong when thir parents are such a huge part of the problem. These kids are being taught to despise “foreigners” because of politics. What a wonderful life lesson for them. This hunder stiker is being held up as a hero when all it is is a political stunt.
Complying with the law by issuing strike notice or choosing not to commit fraud by calling in “sick” shouldn’t be a matter of conscience.
Think of the people who are being hurt by the strike.
The strike is all over propaganda and hype too !
The Country has to have a pathways to status program by international law. Per the Barbosa case the island is in violation. the OBA proposal controls what could turn out to open the floodgates if nothing is done.
Essentially the OBA are fixing a problem that the PLP did not address properly.
The SSM issue is all driven by court cases too. the PLP and other groups would have you believe that the OBA are trying to change society….They are not. The PLP if in power would face the same barriers and have to do something too.
Yet because of the PLP and it’s arms, we have to suffer today….PLP and the hype and sensationalistic activities of its arms are the problem in Bermuda. they are what is hurting Bermudians….Put the blame for your unrest solely on their feet and take out your issues on them.
Oh, incase you forgot…re: public spending…yep…you know who caused that …. the PLP ! $14million for implosion of Club Med building…a bigger and risker implosion in Canada cost less than $1 million.
You have been played by the PLP !!!!!! Welcome to waking up that you are being played by them.
I bet the plp are going to drive their own kids to private school this morning. Let them “stand tall” but their own kids are going to school.
That would be a very safe bet.
“Let your conscience be your guide” should guide the people right to the schools and drop your children off! This is ludicrous. No public transportation so this will affect our lively hood the tourists etc, seniors that need to get around. Who wants to pay for a taxi fare. Grow up people. Is this really necessary??
the people who are asking to strike:
1. do not take the bus or ferry
2. their immediate family do not take the ferry
3. don’t do much on a friday
4. have very flexible jobs or
5. are self employed.
it’s amazing how politically ignorant many people are!1
Sorry, but every single one of you who doesn’t show up for work should be fired. End of story.