Police keep ALS from entering school yard

Last week the police reportedly kept representatives from the Alliance for Teachers in Suriname (ALS) from entering the school yard of OS Flu 2. Wilgo Valies, chairman of the ALS, claimed that the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (OWC) had asked the police to make sure that the representatives did not enter the premises. The union representatives went to the public primary school because they did not agree with the decision to reassign a teacher to another school and therefore wanted to discuss the matter with the other teachers.

The union chairman made it clear that the conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) clearly state that representatives of a union are allowed to go to the workplace of union members if necessary and that the union must not be hampered from doing its job. The ALS contacted the ministry to express its discontent regarding the decision to get the police involved and to keep union representatives from entering school premises. The ALS has reportedly sent a letter to the Ministry of Labor, asking why it is allowing union rights to be violated because the union deems the incident at OS Flu 2 as a violation of union rights. Valies pointed out that in the past couple of months the ministry has often reassigned teachers without taking into account that those people have children and other social commitments. The ALS has sent a letter to the Ministry of OWC, demanding a transparent reassignment policy and that teachers be given time to prepare for their transfer to another school. Valies deems it unacceptable for teachers to be summoned for a talk on Monday and for them to be reassigned the next day.