No normality guaranteed

WESTERN BUREAU:

Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Mark Malabver says there is still no guarantee that the nation’s teachers will not resort to industrial action following Thursday’s wage negotiation meeting involving Jamaica’s unions, the Government and other stakeholders.

According to Malabver, the teachers’ position will be made known following the outcome of follow-up meetings, which will again feature the same stakeholders, next week.

Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday (Friday), Malabver said his organisation might still take industrial action if the Government does not respond favourably to the group’s salary demands, a position he had expressed during the just-concluded 61st annual conference of the JTA.

“We still have unresolved issues, and we are still at the point where the teachers remain restive, and we are still not in a position to guarantee normalcy. There has, however, been a commitment to have a follow-up meeting, which has been scheduled for Monday, and we will await the outcome of that meeting to determine the way forward,” said Malabver.

“Coming out of that meeting, there will be a follow-up meeting with the Joint Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) on Wednesday, where we believe that the salary negotiation will be advanced. After Wednesday’s meeting, our action committee will be convened, [and] I will have to provide a report to the action committee as to what is happening,” said Malabver.

The JTA has rejected the Ministry of Finance’s four-year wage offer of zero per cent in the first year and 2.5 per cent in each of the remaining three years. The group’s representatives walked out of a meeting with Finance Minister Fayval Williams on August 15, after that offer was put on the table.

Thursday’s meeting was held with members of the JCTU, the private sector, the Fiscal Advisory Committee, and government representatives to discuss the ongoing wage situation with the various sectors.

Following Thursday meeting, a release from the Office of the Prime Minister stated that the discussions were ‘fruitful’, with commitments made during the meeting to move forward in the best interest of all Jamaicans.

Among the JTA’s list of claims, which it submitted during its negotiations, are requests for more guidance counsellors and social workers, infrastructural reviews, and fencing for school properties to bolster their security measures.

Malabver said that while the outcome of the upcoming discussions cannot yet be determined, the JTA will maintain its position regarding the Ministry of Finance’s current salary offer.

“We want the negotiations to proceed in a positive way, but we have maintained that zero per cent is not an offer, and we want to see some positive movement in that regard. There continues to be outstanding matters with respect to our list of claims, as well, and we want to have discussions to treat with those matters going forward, but we maintain that zero per cent is a nonstarter for us,” said Malabver.

Meanwhile, commenting briefly on the ongoing talks, Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon said “if we let that process work, it will result in the best possible offer for our public sector workers”.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com