KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Educators represented by the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) voted against the government’s latest wage offer on Wednesday and could intensify industrial action, which has consisted of sick-outs and sit-ins.
The JTA said in a statement that at a meeting at which 578 delegates voted on the offer, 346 rejected the latest offer from the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, and 227 voted to accept it. There were four spoiled ballots, and one ballot was rejected.
“The majority votes reflect the collective will of the teachers,” JTA president La Sonja Harrison said.
“The delegates have spoken and can’t guarantee normality in the education sector as of tomorrow.”
The JTA, representing teachers from the 78 district associations across the country, is now seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Nigel Clarke.
“The union will dispatch a letter to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service highlighting the results of the spoken voice of the delegates of the teachers of this nation, as well as request an urgent meeting with the minister to settle on a critical item,” Harrison said.
On the same day the delegates voted, several teachers silently protested outside the ministry.
Only on Tuesday, while opening the 2023-24 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, Clarke urged public sector groups to sign the new compensation scheme to come forward to settle wage agreements.
Of the approximately JM $79.4 billion (JM $1 = US $0.008) provided for in 2022-23 to pay the incremental amounts for the first year of the restructured compensation system, JM $12 billion was allocated to teachers and must be paid out by the end of this month.
“It is budgeted for. It sits waiting for you if you permit me, through agreement, to give it to you,” Clarke had said.
“If these amounts remain unpaid over the next few weeks, meeting the fiscal balance targets required under our legislation does not leave room to accommodate these amounts in the next fiscal year…. As such, for fiscal sustainability, we will have no choice but to pay these amounts over several years commencing in the financial year 2024-25.”
But the teachers are pressing for more pay.
According to the Jamaica Gleaner, the offer they have rejected is a guaranteed minimum 20 percent increase in basic salary after tax deductions and double-digit increases for trained graduates who make up the bulk of the profession over three years.
Salary documents obtained by the newspaper show that the minimum proposed basic pre-tax pay for pre-trained teachers is $1.3 million annually, which will increase to $1.4 million from April 1, 2024. The maximum on the 11-point band is JM $1.8 million.
Most teachers are in the trained graduate category, and the minimum offer is JM $2.5 million and a maximum of JM $3.6 million annually, it added.
Harrison said the teachers demand a “liveable” wage of not less than JM $3 million annually.
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