Senator Richardson said the no work, no pay policy was put in place for ghost civil servants and it was not intended for teachers or other civil servants who go to work on a daily basis.
He said teachers exercised their rights by demonstrating and they are being penalized for it even though the former government agreed to pay the teachers what is due to them. Richardson said there is a gross lack of communication in government because at no time did government inform the teachers that they were not going to get the full 5.3% in cost of living allowances this year. He said there is a lack of respect on behalf of government regarding the teachers when they decided not to pay them the cost of living allowances and now penalizing them for denouncing the actions taken by government.
Several teachers working for the different school boards are yet to receive their 2% cost of living allowance simply because the Minister of Education and her staff did not duly inform the school boards that the 2% cost of living allowance was added to the subsidy they received for salaries which would last until July 2011. However, Arrindell met with the school boards to discuss the implementation of the no work, no pay policy when the teachers did not attend school for four days.
Several pundits in education said the measures taken by the Minister is untimely and unjust because teachers are the main assets to government and since government did not show any respect by informing the teachers, unions and school boards about the decisions taken to balance the 2011 budget. The Minister they said, could have been more flexible in her decision making.
In the meantime, the National Alliance faction has submitted a request to parliament asking for an urgent meeting where the Minister of Education Rhoda Arrindell should be present to discuss the no work, no pay policy and her reason for implementing the policy on teachers while civil servants were exempted.
Removal of USM Dean.
In the meantime, the Minister of Education Rhoda Arrindell would also have to explain Parliament why she is seeking to remove the current Dean of the University of St. Martin. According to information reaching SMN News, the Minister has sent a letter to the USM informing them that while the Ministry of Education will be providing a subsidy of 1.2 million guilders to USM, the current Dean Joyce Watson would have to return to government civil service. Sources say the only reason the Minister of Education is trying to get back at Watson is because she practically made life a living hell for Arrindell while the two of them were working at USM which pushed Arrindell to leave her job at USM prior to entering politics. SMN News also learnt that Arrindell had also applied for the Dean's position but the board of USM hired Watson whom the source said is not qualified for the job.
Reliable information reaching SMN News states that USM has already sent a letter to the Minister requesting that she allow Watson to stay at USM for the next three to five years. So far the Minister has not responded to the letter.
Already USM began advertising for at least three positions, which are a Dean, President and Financial Controller. An advertisement was also placed with the various universities in the Caribbean for a Dean should the Minister decide to take back Watson, a government civil servant who was loaned out to the USM. Should this happen, the University of St. Martin would have to hire its own Dean and use the funds given to the institution to pay for the services rendered by the new candidate.