Belinda Wilson
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Union of Teachers (BUT) President Belinda Wilson will file a trade dispute with the Department of Labour today in light of the Ministry of Education’s decision to fingerprint foreign teachers.
Mrs Wilson claims that requiring foreign teachers to be fingerprinted as part of the Education Ministry’s vetting process is a violation of the Employment Act. Last week she said 15 teachers from CR Walker High School were bussed to the Criminal Detective Unit (CDU) to be fingerprinted. Director of Education Lionel Sands said in response that fingerprinting foreign teachers was made a standard procedure for all expatriates seeking placement in the public education system in 2010. He said the teachers in question volunteered to be fingerprinted. Mrs Wilson yesterday also dismissed a media report that nearly 100 teachers have been paid more than $1 million in money owed to them. Her statement came after Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald told a newspaper that paying the teachers was a “big accomplishment” for the government.
The teachers, he said, were paid because of the Education Ministry’s failure to address issues regarding reclassifications and promotions over a period of about 10 to 12 years. Last September, Mrs Wilson filed a trade dispute against the government over its failure to pay teachers the “millions of dollars” owed to them. Last December she said the government had finally committed to paying the teachers money owed to them between then and this June. In response to the minister’s claims, she said: “I have no documentation to verify the claim. I was waiting now for a month for a list of the teachers who were paid in December and who will be paid in January and I have not been given the list as yet.”
Comments
pat242 10 years, 2 months ago
Belinda Wilson. Its make sense to fingerprint any foreigner in this country. Remember when the male teacher from Trinidad sexual assaulted a student in Inagua The teacher was able to leave The Bahamas and run to the U.S.A. under the radar. Luckily a traffic officer in New York spot him committing a infraction and found that he was wanted in The Bahamas for sexual assault. So by properly processing these people you will know who exactly is in your country. My aunt in the U.S.A. did the same finger print process.
bahamiandud3242 10 years, 2 months ago
Lol this woman is a clown. Teachers in the Bahamas are a joke. Not all but them, but the majority don't take their job seriously. They could care less whether or not your child learns.
birdiestrachan 10 years, 2 months ago
Ms Wilson loves the lime light.it seems as if she goes to the TV station to be on the news. I do not know what will happen to her when she is no longer a union leader.
TheMadHatter 10 years, 2 months ago
Why do we have foreign teachers in the Bahamas again? I thought government moved strongly to get rid of all foreign teachers back in 1987.
Oh, wait, yeah - that was just the "white" foreign teachers. They were replaced with Jamaicans and Guyanese along with other "people of color" from the Caribbean.
The D-average followed soon thereafter.
That's ok, we love to be ignorant. The Chinese will "learn us" soon enough.
TheMadHatter
242Wow 10 years, 2 months ago
I don’t understand why we as Bahamians are so ignorant of our own laws! This is not about Belinda Wilson! The EMPLOYMENT ACT 2001 of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas makes it clear (even to a 5th grader) that this is AGAINST THE LAW; foreigner or Bahamian makes no difference! It is against the law, simple as that. Section 67 reads: “No employer shall, as a requirement for employment or continued employment, require any person to furnish a set of his fingerprints or take a lie detector”. It cannot be any clearer. Therefore, the fingerprinting that is going on is illegal. Not what I said, not what Belinda said, but what the law says. It shocking to me how so many in the change of command will allow this to continue to go on when it is illegal including the Commission of Police (you know the one who is always telling us that he is the Commission of Police). If they now want to fingerprint employees, then change the law!
Jcarey 10 years, 2 months ago
Democracy is under attack in our beloved Bahamas and it seems that most of us are oblivious to this threat. Who can endorse the law maker's breaking the laws that they themselves framed? Where are the opposition forces that are responsible for the balancing of power? This is not Ms. Wilson's fight alone. Voices of sound reasoning should be echoing from all responsible leaders in this society. Breaking the law is not the way to solve this particular problem or any other problem. Wake up Bahamians! This like the national id idea is pure laziness and extremely dangerous to the ideals of democracy. We must not be lazy, sensible solution only require determination and creativity. Start by protecting our borders and weeding out corruption in government agencies. I have a passport only because I choose to travel, I have a drivers license because I choose to drive but I don't need permission to be a Bahamian. I was born here. What will the national ID card really be used for?
Jcarey 10 years, 2 months ago
What will these finger prints really be used for? Does Jamaica and Guyana have data bases to reference for proof of identity. I bet not.
Stapedius 10 years, 2 months ago
Granted the law may state just as you mentioned and the union has every right to seek legal recourse. We have a legislative, judicial and executive branches of government in our system of governance. There is usually conflicting interests between the branches that need ironing out. Having said that, I think most Bahamians agree that the legislative branch need to perhaps review the law and make changes where necessary to ensure that people of foreign decent working in the Bahamas are lawfully fingerprinted. I'm not sure what the objection is to this considering the issues we've had with some foreigners, not just teachers.
Having worked in the U.S. and the U.K. I've been fingerprinted and had to even pay for it in order to meet the requirements of the border agencies. I didn't feel offended in any way. If I wanted to work in their country I did what was necessary. I don't think the argument is as complex as we are making it out to be. Its simple. As a matter of national security all foreigners wishing to work and reside in this country should be fingerprinted. U.S. green card holders are required to complete full biometric profile in order to be there. So I say simply change the laws to reflect the will of the Bahamian people. As it stands now it is an illegal act on the part of the ministry.
skykscraper 10 years, 2 months ago
Get over it Mrs Wilson!! mr Fitzgerald has been more than gracious and reasonable with this maniac! Enough is enough....
242Wow 10 years, 2 months ago
@ Stapedius; it still does not give anyone the right to BREAK THE LAW. I think that we can all agree that the Law is being broken. This cannot be justified. This is so very simple; make an amendment to the Employment Act to make it lawful to fingerprint. Once done, begin fingerprinting away. The Law is the Law and you don’t have to be an Attorney to understand this (which I'm not). I’m not suggesting in any way that we should not know who is in our country, by all means we should. It has to be within the Law. What Laws will be broken next?
Stapedius 10 years, 2 months ago
@242wow. Its a matter of reading you see. Did you even read what I said in full? I guess not because I said just that. The laws should be amended. But I would suggest you use your brain before responding. If you had simply read the last few lines that I wrote it would have saved you a whole lot of time and not wasted the bytes of your minute brain.
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