Jamaican teachers finally accept government’s wage offer

The Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) has voted to accept the latest wage proposal from the government, resulting in teachers receiving a 16 per cent increase over a four-year period. JTA president Georgia Waugh Richards said the government’s latest offer had been received last week and the JTA General Council voted on the matter this week.

“We called a special General Council meeting …as it relates to the current offer from government and the members of the General Council voted to accept,” she said, adding that in the meeting the union members would have gone through the document “discussed what is contained therein and voted. The government had originally offered a six per cent salary increase for the 2017-2018 period. The public-school teachers earlier rejected a 16 per cent wage increase, over a four year-period, from the government, and instead were asking that instead of a four-year agreement, the authorities revert to two years and, in addition, they want the special allowance of protective clothing be increased to J$20,000 per annum, up from the current J$18,504. They also want teachers to be paid J$2,500 to mark research papers and J$2,000, per student, for supervising teaching practice.