By KEVA LIGHTBOURNE, Guardian Senior Reporter
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The Union of Tertiary Educators in The Bahamas (UTEB) has filed a trade dispute against the College of The Bahamas.
Union president Jennifer Dotson disclosed to the Guardian yesterday that the dispute was filed on Friday with the Department of Labour because the college Council is refusing to sign an industrial agreement which has been in the works for the past three years.
"We have been in negotiations for a new industrial agreement with the college since 2003 and we have reached to the point where as far as we knew we had agreed on all the clauses. We finished cleaning up the document, dotting the I's and crossing the T's, they are now saying that they are not prepared to sign the industrial agreement," Mrs Dotson said.
"The reason I guess is that they may have problems with some of the things in the agreement, particularly based on the fact that they feel that some of the things are significant to our moving to university status, and that if we put off going to university status then they don't need to sign the industrial agreement."
It is understood that items on the document have already been agreed to and initialled by union members and the college negotiating team. Now sources are pointing the finger at the College Council.
"It is very disappointing to hear that they are not prepared to sign the document you have worked on for the last three years," Mrs Dotson said.
"I think it is very demoralising for the faculty because we have been negotiating in good faith.
Obviously COB has not been negotiating in such good faith to have things reach this juncture where we have completed a document and they are saying they are not prepared to sign. It's quite a blow to the faculty."
n Hodder asks media to respect her privacy: Jayne Hodder has neither confirmed nor denied whether or not she has reconsidered her candidacy for the College of the Bahamas presidential post.
Yesterday after three days of attempts to reach Hodder, the Nassau Guardian received a written response from her via email.
Hodder, who was unable to fulfill her promise to have a phoned interview with the Guardian, responded saying, "I am writing to say what I would have said on the telephone, [which is] that I have no information to offer and no comment to make and would ask that you respect my privacy. Thank you for the consideration and best regards."
Hodder said that she was in a series of meetings all week and had an emergency meeting yesterday at the time when the interview was planned.
