American Federation of Teachers union members returned to the picket lines Monday two days after the Senate approved funds for a previously rejected wage agreement with the government.
A motorcade by teachers through St. Thomas ended at the Fort Christian parking lot, where during a rally St. Thomas-St. John Interim President Vernelle de LaGarde told teachers the union leadership has agreed to meet with representatives of the government Tuesday.
The talks Tuesday, the first since August when the initial agreement, since rejected by teachers, was hammered out, will focus on the wage agreement and funding approved by the 23rd Legislature Friday night.
St. Croix union president Tyrone Molyneaux said a resolution to the impasse may come soon. "I see some light at the end of the tunnel, but we have to continue the strike line as we work towards 100 percent of participation by AFT members," he said.
Molyneaux said teachers are not going to return to the classrooms until their demands are met. Union leaders urged members to maintain the strike line Sunday as well, but by Monday morning there were unconfirmed reports that more teachers were crossing the picket line and returning to the classroom.
Striking teachers on St. Thomas have been manning the picket lines between 6:30 and 10 a.m. each day before congregating at Emancipation Garden for a mid-morning pep rally. At Emancipation Garden, teachers are updated daily by the union leadership on the latest developments.
On Friday, while the legislature met in special session to approve monies to fund a rejected wage agreement, the teachers were in attendance at the AFT's 22nd annual Mini Quest conference. Entitled, "Meeting the needs of today's educators for tomorrow," the conference was well-attended and at times resembled a pep rally with frequent singing and chanting. At the conference, teachers learned the strike efforts of locals 1825 and 1826 were fully endorsed and supported by the national AFT union.
Notably absent from the Friday conference were Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds, Senate Education Committee Chairman Norman Jn Baptiste and Board of Education Chairman Keith Richards; all were listed on the program.
