THE JAMAICA Teachers' Association has finally received the Ministry of Finance and Planning's new salary scale offer. The offer is based on the realignment of teachers' salaries to those of civil servants under the new 80 per cent of market agreement.
The offer was received on Thursday, and will be discussed during a regular meeting of the JTA today.
However, according to Sadie Comrie, the JTA's president, "a decision will be made at a special delegates' meeting on May 10." At that time, representatives from the 76 district associations of the JTA may finally be able to put an end to the year-long deadlock between the island's 20,000 teachers and the Government.
Last week Thursday, Dr. Adolph Cameron, the JTA's general secretary, complained that the association had yet to receive the Government's final offer on salaries and wage benefits for the 2002-2004 contract period. He stated that, despite the association's expectation that the offer would have been received by Wednesday the latest, there had been no communication to the JTA.
"The association has had to postpone its special conference of delegates because of the tardiness of the Government in sending to us the relevant information," Dr. Cameron said.
Junior Finance Minister, Fitz Jackson, in response to the JTA's complaint, immediately issued a statement (also last Wednesday) explaining that the Ministry was unable to deliver the salary scale on the previous day as intended. The Minister explained that, though the offer was expected to be delivered after the Cabinet met on Monday (April 14), the deadline could not be met because "the realignment exercise had to be done after that of civil servants."
