Outgoing president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association Doran Dixon (left) passes the baton to new President Norman Allen at the Hilton Rose Hall in St James, Monday night.
Public school teachers yesterday accepted Government’s seven per cent pay increase offer.
In a sudden about-face, the teachers accepted the very offer of four per cent in year one and three per cent in year two of a new two-year contract with the Government, which they had soundly rejected by a widening 3-1 margin at a special conference at Jamaica College in Kingston on June 20.
In June, 243 of 315 delegates attending the special meeting voted against the package. This time in the resort capital of Montego Bay, 151 teacher/delegates voted, with 93 supporting the offer and 55 against. Two ballots were spoilt and one was unmarked.
The question was whether the reduced number of delegates impacted the outcome.
Newly installed president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Norman Allen, who took over from Doran Dixon after midnight Monday, couldn’t explain the change of mind, either.
“As the new president, I have not tried in any way to influence the decision of the teachers. We allowed democracy to take place,” Allen insisted.
He said that he was never sure how the result would have gone, following a prolonged debate over the offers, which lasted some two hours over the scheduled time.
The Jamaica Observer also tried to find out why only 151 delegates voted at the current 51st annual conference at the Hilton Rose Hall, compared to the 315 which voted against the offers at Jamaica College on June 20. It was learnt that the conference usually attracted far less delegates, because of the cost of transportation and accommodation in the luxurious resorts.
An ecstatic minister with responsibility for the public service, Horace Dalley, told the Observer last night that he was happy that the teachers had accepted the package.
He promised to create a “special working team”, which he will chair, to ensure that that all items of agreement are implemented during the life of the agreement.
“It will be established immediately after we signed this agreement, and it will ensure that every single item we agree to is implemented,” Dalley said.
According to Allen, the decisive factor was the improvement in the book and software allowance, which is paid across the board to teachers.
“When we announced the offer at Jamaica College, it was not in writing, and therefore we could not answer satisfactorily some of the questions the teachers raised. But, we got it in writing today,” he said. However, he said that he was not sure whether yesterday’s more detailed presentation was responsible for the changed response.
The Government had offered to increase the allowance from $111,430 per annum to $147,000 by 2016/17, up by approximately $36,000 increase over the two years.
He said that the latest package offered no increase in the teachers’ basic pay. But he admitted that the Government has now offered to provide $10 million in year one and $60 million in year of the new two-year agreement to fund scholarships for the children of teachers entering tertiary institution, as well as provide increased access to land, and negotiate a concessionary fares for riding on the Government-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company buses.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that we represent the will of the teachers and they willed us to say that they accept the offer. They alone know what they can live with,” Allen told the Observer.
Dalley said last night that he had met with former JTA President Doran Dixon and deputy financial secretary in his ministry, Wayne Jones, who is a former president of the Jamaica Civil Service Association.
“We met until late Saturday night, and we examined the budget and the offers, and we consolidated and we put timelines to the items of the claims,” he said.
“I committed myself to setting up the special working committee, which will be led by me… We have done the best we could do. The teachers deserve more, but it is the best we can do at this time,” Dalley insisted.
Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites will address the JTA conference, today.