PSU and BNTU Meet with Police Commissioner Over Blockades

As we noted, the President of the Public Service Union, Dean Flowers, accompanied the BNTU’s President Nadia Caliz in this evening’s meeting with the Police Commissioner. Love News spoke with Flowers prior to the meeting to get his view on the protest yesterday as well as the Police’s response to the mechanical failures across the country.

Dean Flowers, President, PSU: “That we received today that our brothers and sisters in the police department are being weaponized to utilize  suppression, to suppress peaceful protests against teachers really came to us as a surprise. We would have never thought that in an effort to demonstrate how effective he could be that the new commissioner would resort to weaponizing the police department against teachers. But personally, it is now dawning on me that we should not be surprised  because this is the very commissioner who in his very first week of office attempted to violate the constitutional rights of citizens by pleading, by begging for an SOE for six months to one year,  demonstrating his incompetence. And today, demonstrates that he is nothing but a political puppet to be carrying out orders by this administration to intimidate teachers and by extension public officers who are set to come out sooner rather than later.  Well, clearly it has to be an attempt to send a message that if you attempt to show dissent to a corrupt administration that no other than the Commissioner of Police and the state will come after you. It is a clear attempt to silence public officers. And it is a sad day. It is really, for me, it’s a sad day because the teachers are today. It may very well be the nurses of KHMH tomorrow.”

Minutes before the meeting, President Caliz spoke with Love News. She noted that before she decides on the next move for the BNTU, she needs to hear what the outcome of this evening’s meeting would be. She also called on the politicians to find the money for their raise, and ‘do the damn thing’.

Reporter: In this conversation with the ComPol are you going to push to have those charges dropped against your teachers? 

Nadai Caliz, National President, BNTU: “I need to hear what he has to say first. That is very important. Because I know that while he’ll be talking to me, he’s also talking for those who are behind the scenes. And I need to understand where the people behind the scenes, what they’re actually thinking, what is it that they want, what is it that they fear, but they know what my teachers want. They want a salary adjustment. They want a pay system that will allow them to be paid on time. And if they’re not paid on time for something we put in place for them to get their salary instead of waiting for two months, three months, four months down the road. There are a lot of changes that they need to make. And they should not be afraid of making the changes because they asked us for a vote on March 12th. They’re back in power. Just do the damn thing. I’m backed by so many different people, Mr. Wade. I must tell you when the word spread I had so many calls, text messages, people I don’t even know, organisations I didn’t even know existed in this country saying that whenever you are arrested let us know and we are coming with our bus loads, we are coming, my teachers are saying that they walking out, they are doing this. So I don’t really, I’m not really a fan of a riot unless it is truly necessary but if my people feel that they need to come and represent their leader like that,  then I’m honoured and I’m touched. I’m very touched by that.”

We will have more on this in tomorrow’s newscast.