The Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Monday claimed success as teachers heeded its request to start away from the opening day of the new school term as part of the union’s strategy to force the government to offer a more than four percent salary increase.
TTUTA president Antonia Tekah DeFreitas said initial figures show almost 90 percent of its members stayed home as they continue to protest the four percent wage offer.
“When we look at comparator jobs, it shows that the difference between a teacher’s job and jobs with similar qualifications and competencies is about TT$5,000 (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents). What we’re being offered is just about TT$200 before tax,” she added.
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She said since 2015, TTUTA had submitted proposals to the chief personnel officer (CPO) for the salary negotiations for the period 2014-17, “and it was only in 2020 that the CPO office responded to the union.
Last Friday, the Trinidad and Tobago government maintained its position of negotiating a four percent wage increase for public servants, warning that calls by some trade unions for significant wage increases would lead to the government having to find billions of dollars to meet back pay and annual salaries.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert, speaking at the one-day forum titled “Spotlight on the Economy 2022,” organized by the Ministry of Finance, said that based on the offer being made to the unions, the government would have to pay TT$2.43 billion in back pay.
So far, only one trade union has accepted the government’s wage offer, but the unions, including the Public Service Association (PSA) and the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service Association, say the CPO, Dr. Daryl Dindial, had during the latest round of negotiations last month offered a salary increase of four percent, representing a zero, zero and two percent and a zero, zero and two percent for the period of 2014 and 2019.
The unions had originally rejected an initial two percent offer over an eight-year period – 2014-2021and last month, during a street demonstration, said they were disrespected by the government’s four percent offer as the final offer.
In a statement Monday, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said that based on data received from the Division of School Supervision, attendance at primary schools was 16 819), or 17 percent of students and 1,392) or 27 percent of teachers.
“At denominational primary schools, the teacher and student attendance was 28 and 20 percent respectively, while the corresponding attendance at government schools was 24 and 12 percent respectively.’
The MOE said that at secondary schools, there were an attendance of 28 738, or 39 percent students, and 1,851, or 31 percent teachers.
“At denominational secondary schools, the teacher and student attendance was 47 percent and
Sixty-eight percent respectively, while the corresponding attendance at government schools was 25 percent and 26 percent respectively.
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