Education

Union President: We Are Bahamians; They Must Honor Our Industrial Agreement

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Members of the Bahamas Union of Auxiliary Professionals in Education (BUAPE) and Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas (UTEB) protested in front of BTVI’s Old Trail Road campus Monday morning over long standing employment issues.

Published

7 months ago

September 1, 2025

Sasha Lightbourne

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Chanting “solidarity forever” and “no more contracts, HR gat to go,” members of the Bahamas Union of Auxiliary Professionals in Education (BUAPE) and Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas (UTEB) protested in front of BTVI’s Old Trail Road campus Monday morning.

And this is not the first time they took to the streets in protest. Back in May, the group calling for the removal of institution president, Dr. Linda Davis and today, they renewed that call.

And what’s worse, they say, is this.

“We have employees who have been working here five, seven, ten, 18 years have been on contract for that amount of time and more and then on top of that the institution and its HR department and its administrative services department decided that they would go behind our backs to our members and issued letters saying you’re going to be getting these contracts one year, two year three year contracts when we have made it very clear that you will honor the industrial agreement,” BUAPE President Ernesto Williams told Our News.

Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas President Daniel Thompson, also supported the protest.

So whats next?

“Tto offer our members contracts is a blatant disregard and we will not stand for it and we know that our needs will be met because we’re not asking for what we think we want, we are calling for what we know we signed for, what has been agreed upon, what we are entitled to and what we deserve,” Williams said.