The Union of Professional Educators (UPE) has registered an industrial dispute with the Ministry of Education.
This comes, it said, after having had several requests “completely ignored” for constitutional rights to be respected.
The union went on to say that the Ministry of Education has “for months on end, not only ignored the multiple requests made by the union itself but has also completely disregarded the complaint filed with the Ombudsman at the Office of the Commissioner of Education.”
“The requests made were very simple,” UPE said, “and should not have led to this taking of action against the Ministry as they constitute basic rights which have been afforded to all other registered trade unions, and the approval of which should simply constitute a formality.”
The Union concluded by saying that “when such basic requests are not automatically granted by a Ministry, it can be seen not only as a wilful, albeit vain, attempt to stunt the services provided by the union but, even worse, as a blatant disregard of the basic principles of human rights and of freedom of affiliation of all those who rightfully choose to benefit from the services provided by one union rather than any other.”