‘I was disappointed’
JTA president says education minister could have given stronger commitment for teachers’ issues
Published:Friday | August 25, 2023 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
JAMAICA TEACHERS’ Association [JTA] President Leighton Johnson is expressing disappointment that Education Minister Fayval Williams has seemingly failed to give a strong commitment toward addressing teachers’ concerns regarding their compensation packages.
In a media interview during the third and final day of the JTA’s 59th annual conference at the Royalton Negril Resorts and Spa in Negril, Westmoreland, Johnson said that more could have been done to assure educators that their issues regarding salaries and benefits are being resolved.
“I was a little disappointed, because although it was indicated that there are some steps being taken to ensure that teachers are paid properly, I wanted to hear the minister [Williams] give that commitment to the teachers of Jamaica that there is a deliberate thrust to resolving the remaining issues surrounding the compensation review. We cannot speak about the development of education in our nation if we are not speaking about how teachers are compensated,” said Johnson.
“If we want this sector to evolve, if we want this sector to be a true embodiment of what Jamaica needs to be, I continue to maintain that our teachers must be paid and must be paid well,” Johnson added.
His comments came moments after Williams addressed a question-and-answer session with educators in which she revealed being aware of variations in the amounts of several teachers’ salaries, about which the JTA’s members have been vocal recently.
VARIABILITY IN SALARY
“I have taken a look at some of these salary payments, for persons who have sent them to me because they are saying, ‘How come I got this for one month and then got a different thing another month?’ In the cases that I have seen, and I am not saying it is all cases, the variability in the monthly salary has to do with the change in the deductions that people have, and there might be some changes in the taxation,” Williams told the meeting.
One day earlier, the JTA had indicated that action will be taken by the end of September if the educators’ concerns about the payment of retroactive salaries or payment recalculations are not satisfactorily resolved.
The teachers have also taken issue with how their monthly salaries are calculated, with different deductions for taxes being reflected.
In addition, while acknowledging the Ministry of Education’s efforts to address the concerns raised by Jamaica’s teachers, Johnson complained about the length of time it takes for issues to be resolved.
“We appreciate the measures and extents of the Ministry of Education team, how they are responding to the needs of education at this time, but we still believe that more needs to be done to reduce the length of time for things to be operationalised,” he said. “That is the major challenge, because when we have to wait a year or two years, there are students and teachers who have to endure dangerous, unsavoury or uncomfortable situations during that period, so we need the ministry to move apace in getting things implemented.”