Unjust and unfair
published: Tuesday | December 2, 2003

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I WAS shocked and dismayed at the recent revelation of some teachers being overpaid, some up to half-a-million dollars since 1995, due to some reclassification done back then that was not adhered to by the Government and or its workers.

Why has this continued unabated for so long? How could this be missed by auditors and technocrats? I am well aware that the Government is in the right on this account. However, it seems to me that these poor teachers have adjusted their lifestyles around their current incomes for all these years and it would be unjust to ask them at this juncture to pay back this money, which was not their fault in getting it in the first place.

May I suggest that 25 per cent of future pay increases be used as part payment to amortise 25 per cent of the total debt and the difference be written off or absorbed by the powers that be, in the national interest. This could bring an amicable end to a potentially social unrest in the teaching profession and give kudos to the Government.

I am, etc.,

MICHAEL JOHNSON

man2196@netscape.net

Kingston 5

Via Go-Jamaica