ON EDGE
JTA says no wage deal without key demands met as teachers near breaking point
Published:Wednesday | April 8, 2026 | 1:00 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Mark Malabver is calling on the Government to show greater respect for the nation’s teachers, arguing that educators are not being adequately compensated for the demanding work they do.
“The salary negotiation for teachers is taking place painstakingly slow, and it’s unfortunate as we have submitted our list of claims for some 16 months now, and we’re nowhere near completion of the negotiations,” Malabver told The Gleaner in an interview on the sidelines of the three-day JTA’s Education Conference 2026, which is being held at the Princess Grand Hotel in Hanover.
According to Malabver, teachers are now in year two of a proposed three-year wage agreement, making it critical for the JTA to begin compiling a list of claims for the next negotiating period, which starts in September 2026, even though negotiations on the previous claims for the 2025–2027 period are not yet settled.
“The teachers are disappointed, to say the least, notwithstanding our best effort to push the negotiations along, but we remain clear in terms of what our mission is. For us, there are some deal breakers. If we do not get those things that are on our list of claims, then we won’t have a deal with the Government,” he said, “We maintain that the teachers must be paid a salary in keeping with their value and their worth.”
Malabver further pointed out that while the EY report commissioned by the Government and used as the basis to justify a large increase in salaries for politicians had recommended that classroom teachers be placed in a certain band on the Government’s salary scale, the Government chose to put them at a lower band.
“We are saying to the Government: Let us negotiate,” said Malabver.
“We understand the parameters in which they are operating, but we are clear that the teachers must be paid a salary in keeping with their value and their worth,” he added.
Asked about the impact of the prolonged negotiations, Malabver said the JTA and the nation’s teachers are close to a breaking point.
“The teachers are becoming frustrated. They have shown tremendous restraint, notwithstanding the fact that they are being asked to turn up for school, particularly in western Jamaica, working in very deplorable and perilous conditions,” he emphasised.
The JTA president said that in some situations, teachers are being asked to operate under tents, in conditions that deteriorate tremendously whenever there is rainfall, which makes the teaching-learning environment less than ideal.
“We, as teachers, have always made sacrifices on behalf of this country. We have always stepped up to the plate. Every time that there is a crisis, it falls to the teacher to navigate the education system, and we have always done that. I think it is time now that the Government do right by the teachers.”