Incumbent President Belinda Wilson has secured her third term as the leader of the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT).

Yesterday, more than 4,000 BUT members casted their votes in the elections that saw Mrs. Wilson and incumbent Secretary General Stephen McPhee square off.

Polls opened at 8:00 a.m. and closed at 6:00 p.m.

At press time, unofficial results revealed that Mrs. Wilson won all the Family Islands save for Abaco.

Mr. McPhee also edged out Mrs. Wilson in Grand Bahama 235 to 189 and in Ministry of Education at 30-44.

However in New Providence, she won Workers House with 175 to Mr. McPhee’s 115 votes, All Saints Church 180 – 83 votes.

At the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) Mrs. Wilson won 195 to Mr. McPhee’s 102 votes and in Holy Cross she was victorious 283-173.

Speaking with the Bahama Journal last night, Mrs. Wilson spoke about her victory.

“I must say that I feel good and I feel encouraged actually because this shows that the hard work that I have been doing over the last three years has paid off. The members are pleased for the most part and I really feel relieved because I believe that in the union we can do even more because Mr. McPhee has really been a hindrance to the progress of the union for the last several years,” she said.

She also spoke about her A-team’s plans for the union.

“We have a $1.3 million building in Grand Bahama that will be completed in another four to five months. It’s up to the roof at this time. We will have the BUT history books that we seek to have completed by the end of this year and launched. We are awaiting the government’s counterproposal for our new agreement for 2013,” she said.

“We are also going to look at housing and also we are going to continue to work the day to day challenges and grievances that our members have.”

During his rounds Mr. McPhee said Mrs. Wilson’s reign was over and he insisted that the president no longer has the confidence of the union nor its members.

“The last five years there have been major concerns in this organisation,” Mr. McPhee added.

“Despite what have been said publicly even surrounding finances, the image, our relationships with our regional partners and the international education body.

“We have a Facebook page and trade unionists across the Caribbean openly say, ‘Let’s go McPhee.’ We know that it’s not only a call for change in the membership but also in the region.”

The Bahama Journal was unable to reach Mr. McPhee at press time.