JTA issues unresolved
August 20, 2009
There is still uncertainty whether there will be a smooth start to the new academic year on September 7, as delegates of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) are yet to decide whether to accept a modified government position on their outstanding payment dispute.
The proposal from Govern-ment was presented to teachers by Education Minister Andrew Holness at the JTA conference in Ocho Rios, St Ann, yesterday.
The nearly 300 delegates on Tuesday flatly rejected Government's initial proposal to pay the over $8 billion owed to teachers for the April 2007 to March 2008 period in three equal tranches, beginning April 2010 up to April 2012.
Payment proposal
Yesterday, Holness proposed that the majority of the outstanding amount be paid in the first year (2010) and the balance in equal payments, in 2011 and 2012, at an interest rate of five per cent per annum.
In response, as a first step, the JTA demanded that the proposal be made official by putting it in writing and be presented by Friday of this week.
"We have got a modified position from the minister but we would still want to get a full response in writing that we can hold the team accountable for, and we are hoping by Friday we would get a response," JTA president Michael Stewart later told The Gleaner.
'September to remember'
Until then, Stewart said, the threat still remains for a 'September to remember', a term used on Tuesday by immediate past president Doran Dixon to indicate a disruption to the new school year, come September...
Author: Carl Gilchrist
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
