REJECTED
JTA says protests could continue as teachers spurn latest wage offer
Published:Thursday | March 9, 2023 | 1:10 AMEdmond Campbell and Kimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporters
Sit-ins, sick-outs, and outright protests by teachers at several schools across the island over the last three days to register their frustration with the current offer on the table for educators under the Government’s compensation system could escalate today.
This is because the 24,000-strong JTA’s position hardened on Wednesday when delegates representing teachers from the 78 district associations across the country voted to reject the offer on the table under the Government’s compensation scheme.
“The delegates have spoken, and they can’t guarantee normality in the education sector as of tomorrow (today),” declared President of the JTA, La Sonja Harrison.
Of the 754 ballots cast, 346 rejected the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service’s latest offer, 227 voted to accept it, there were four spoilt ballots, and one ballot was rejected.
Harrison noted that the majority vote reflected the collective will of the teachers.
She said that the union would dispatch a letter to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service requesting an urgent meeting with the portfolio minister, Dr Nigel Clarke, to settle unresolved issues.
The JTA head signalled that many of her colleagues did not want to leave the classroom in Jamaica.
“All they want is to be able, from month to month, to pay their bills and to live a standard of life in this nation that they contribute daily to build,” she added.
“The minister would have articulated that provisions were made to increase the salaries to retain or attract certain skills set of certain groupings in the public sector. What of the teachers?” she questioned.
She told journalists that the teachers are demanding a “liveable” wage of not less than $3 million per annum.
Harrison urged Prime Minister Andrew Holness to heed the call of teachers.
“We say to the prime minister of this country, … consider what the teachers have spoken today (yesterday).”
Meanwhile, the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) on Wednesday rubbished a suggestion from Clarke that politics was at play with the JTA’s failure to sign a new wage agreement under the new compensation review system.
On Tuesday, during his Budget Debate presentation, Clarke said he sensed that politics was at play in the position taken so far by the powerful union for teachers.
The finance minister told the House of Representatives that $12 billion had been set aside to compensate the nation’s educators, which, if not taken up now, would not roll over into a new fiscal year.
He said that the amount exceeded the total increase that went to all public-sector workers (110,000) in eight of the last 10 years.
“I hope, for the sake of our country, that partisan politics is not weaving its way in. And I say that not because of speculation, but because of things that have been revealed in our media and social media in recent days. That would be most unfortunate,” Clarke said.
But PNP General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell has sought to pour cold water on Clarke’s argument, insisting that the money can be held in escrow.
“If you were to listen to the Government, the Opposition has more power than them. If taxi operators protest, it is the Opposition doing it. If police protest, it’s the Opposition doing it. If teachers protest, it is the Opposition doing it. It simply means that we have more power than the Government, and time come for them to step out of the way and allow us to govern the country,” said Campbell.
“What he’s saying is absolute nonsense. Dr Clarke needs to go and sit and meet with the teachers and others and have a discussion with them to understand the challenge that they are facing and put out practical solutions for the complex problems that are facing persons. To come out and just ascribe political motive without any proof of that is ridiculous,” he added.
He said the protests that have occurred across the island are “random” and “spontaneous” and are, most times, brought to the attention of the Opposition through the media.
“We are not instigating anything,” he said.
However, Clarke, who told Parliament that he is the son of a retired teacher, said he could empathise with teachers but would not jeopardise the gains made with the economy through fiscal discipline.
“I have presented the facts. What more ought I to do? Should I put at risk the progress Jamaica has made after sharing the significance of the amounts in the context of Jamaica’s finances and Jamaica’s economic history? Should I seek to reverse the economic gains made through mutual sacrifice?” he questioned, though at the same time conceding that teachers deserve more.
On Wednesday, Harrison also dismissed the suggestion that the teachers are politically motivated as scores of placard-bearing educators across the island staged protests to register their disapproval of the compensation being offered by the Government.
Meanwhile, the Police Officers Association (POA), the Jamaica Police Federation, and the District Constables’ Association will host a joint press conference today to address the compensation system and comments made by Clarke in Parliament on Tuesday.
In correspondence to its members, POA Chairman Senior Superintendent of Police Wayne Cameron said the press conference is being held to highlight what he said was the most “troubling issues that are hindering” the police.