Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) teachers in Tobago say they are frustrated and fed up of the shoddy treatment meted out to them including what they claim has been the denial to go on maternity leave.
President of the Early Childhood T&T Union (ECTTU) Jamiele Sydney said yesterday despite repeated letters written earlier this year to Education Minister Anthony Garcia, Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus and to the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) officials under which the teachers fall, there has been no response.
Sydney and some of the teachers gathered outside the administrative complex in Calder Hall, yesterday demanding that they be treated fairly.
Sydney, who insisted that the teachers were in fact permanent added, "They are not contracted but the THA has forced a six-month contract on them which is illegal because there is no six-month contract in the early childhood rank.
"The stipulation is that the contracts must be three years and up. That is clearly stated in the agreement with the chief personnel officer."
He claimed that because some teachers were refusing to sign the six-month contracts they were now being paid around the 15th of every other month.
"It is victimisation taking place. And because of the contract the teachers have no sick leave, no maternity or any benefits at all. If they take a day they are cutting their pay," Sydney added.