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JTA inks gov't's wage agreement

Published:Monday | February 21, 2022 | 1:13 PM
Dr Nigel Clarke, (left) Minister of Finance and the Public Service, and Winston Smith, President of Jamaica Teachers' Association, at a signing ceremony for the association’s acceptance of the Government’s wage offer for the April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022 contract period. The ceremony was held at the Ministry on February 21, 2022. -Rudolph Brown photo.

Judana Murphy/Gleaner Writer 

The Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) this morning inked the Government's four percent wage agreement on behalf of the island's 26,000 teachers.

After weeks of negotiations, 68 percent of JTA delegates agreed to accept the wage package, while 30 percent voted no.

Two percent of the 550 delegates abstained. 

The wages and related allowances are for the contract period April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.

In his remarks, JTA president Winston Smith said it has been a hard journey, but the parties have converged around a common cause. 

Smith said teachers have and will always put the interest of the country at the forefront, but they are human beings who must exist within Jamaica's economic framework. 

“We are expecting that as we move beyond this point, that our deliberations, discussions, and of course compensation, will be more aligned with what the fiscal realities of the country are, as it relates to our salary and compensation, as it relates to inflation rates, and of course, the opportunity of sustainability within the profession,” Smith said. 

Minister of Finance, Dr Nigel Clarke, said the government fully recognises that the increases offered and agreed on “could always be better, given the circumstances.

“But we are pleased that we've been able to reach an accommodation with the Jamaica Teachers' Association and with the understanding that we are in a pandemic - still emerging from - and we plan, in the next fiscal year, to begin the implementation of the restructuring of public sector compensation,” Clarke said.

The minister added that Jamaica is one of few countries in the region that offered increases in both 2020 and 2021 amid the pandemic. 

Clarke said outstanding payments will be made by the end of the current fiscal year. 

judana.murphy@gleanerjm.com 

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