Great Bay:--- Further to the agreement signed between the Council of Ministers and the unions representing the civil servants (WICSU-PSU and ABVO St. Maarten) on Tuesday, February 2, 20111, the Minister of Education and the support staff, in accordance with point 4 of said agreement, met with representatives of all the school boards and the WITU.The meeting was convened to discuss a possible alternative to the implementation of the "No Work, No Pay" policy for teachers who were absent from school without a valid reason during the teachers' action that started on Thursday, January 27th, 2011 and was called off Tuesday, February 1, 2011.
The meeting was held at the Dr. A. C. Wathey Legislative Hall at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 3, 2011.
After discussions, it was decided that:
- The application of the policy of the "No Work, No Pay" or an alternative measure of making up for the missed days would be left to the discretion of the respective school boards.
- Everyone present stressed that the interest of the child should always remain paramount and that better communication between all partners in education is necessary to avoid any recurrence of similar incidents in future.
