Bengaluru: Baldwin staff on warpath, manager post scrapped

Bengaluru: The back to back protests and action taken at the Baldwin institutions in the city has spurred the employees to demand the elimination of a managerial designation itself.

“We do not want the designation of a manager, as the institutions have a legacy of respective principals handling matters efficiently. Why do we need a manager to create additional problems, rather than trying to solve them, if any,” voiced the protesters. 

Meanwhile, teachers, non-teaching staff and administrative employees of Baldwin Boys’ High School, who were protesting, tasted success with the administration removing manager Beena Unni Peter from the post with “immediate effect”.

Hundreds of protesters from within the institution and from among the alumni made the issue public as their repeated demands were neglected. The staff said that the manager behaved rudely and threatened them with memos if anyone raised their voice against her “inappropriate actions”.

The teachers said that the manager continued to behave without respect even with senior teachers after repeatedly asking her not to do so. They said that she would pick on junior teachers and abuse them openly. Speaking to each other and even moving out of the school block during the day was restricted, they said. 

“Our protests gained the attention of the authorities and the action came in our favour, only after we started demanding that even the Bishop should step down for not accepting our legitimate demands,” said a protester. 

The staff had decided to continue the protest overnight, excluding class hours on Monday, when the verbal order came. The official order was released later after the protestors demanded to re-word it, removing the clause “pending official enquiry.” The final order read that Peter was removed from the managerial designation “with immediate effect.”

The staff of the school had supported similar protests last week at Baldwin Girls’ High School, which sought the removal of the Principal. “The manager did not like one among us who was working part-time at the Girls’ School. She suspended him saying he was handling multiple jobs, after he tried to talk back to her. She forgot that she was being a hypocrite, handling three jobs at a time manager at Baldwin Co-Education Extension High School and hostel superintendent of Baldwin Girls’ High School,” said another teacher.