00:00I've learned that many of our students across Tobago are not able to sit their Tobago district exams.
00:08Many of our schools are being called, or parents have been called yesterday and today to pick up their students
00:15from school.
00:16As you know, Tutor had their meeting yesterday, and we can safely say that teachers across Tobago and in Trinidad
00:24too are engaging in some sort of industrial action.
00:28The action by some teachers follows a finance minister, Devendra Natanku, indicating back pay for teachers would be paid in
00:37the 2027 budget.
00:39PNM Tobago Council political leader, Shamfika Joe-Lewis, said outstanding monies owed to teachers by the government must be paid
00:46with haste.
00:48And I want to charge the Tobago House of Assembly and the government, or might I say they're one in
00:53the same as Tomo has told us, if we didn't know then, we know now.
00:58That they are a part of the government.
01:00So I want to call on this government to honor its commitment to One Nation's teachers, and pay them their
01:08outstanding salary arrares owed to these teachers.
01:11Kujo-Lewis said teachers are not asking for charity.
01:15They are not asking for a handout.
01:18This is monies already negotiated for and agreed on and promised to these teachers.
01:26They earn these monies.
01:27Many teachers last year believe that they voted for back pay, and today they cry out for back paying, as
01:34they call it.
01:35She said the action by government toward teachers remains unacceptable and disrespectful.
01:41I think the treatment being meted out to teachers is unacceptable.
01:46It is disrespectful, and I want to add that it's disingenuous, because they keep on being promised and promised, and
01:54told something different from time to time.
01:58Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
02:00We're taking off these porta chambers.
02:00We'll see you in the next few years.
02:01We'll see you in the next few years.
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