The Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) has accepted and signed off on the recent wage offer by the Government. Whilst there were some small concessions given by the Government, including the purchasing of laptops, the two most critical items that will directly affect the more than 23,000 teachers are the four per cent increase in basic salaries and a one-off payment of $40,000 in book, stationery, and technology allowance.

More than 60 per cent of the membership that were in attendance at the special delegates meeting voted to accept the deal. However, many educators, including myself, are of the view that the negotiated package that was accepted was one which has left the teachers worst off.

Economic realities

The negotiated settlement must be examined within the context of the economic conditions in which the country has found itself. Inflation is trending upwards of 10 per cent, which has led to a significant increase in everything, from the basic food basket to fuel prices to utilities.

By now every educator should be feeling the cost of inflation in their pockets. Furthermore, the negotiated settlement means that teachers will only be taking home an amount between $3,000 and $9,000 before tax, approximately. This, of course, is dependent on exactly where the teacher is on the salary scale. In layman’s terms, given the four per cent increase, teachers will now have to dig deeper to afford basic food items. It means that, on average, the purchasing power of teachers has essentially declined by six per cent.

To further compound the issue, the Governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Richard Byles has declared that inflation will not be expected to significantly decline before the end of the year. Bear in mind that exactly one day after the signing of the negotiated contract, the Government announced a 28 per cent increase in the minimum wage, with a hike in public transportation fares to follow.

Consequently, a teacher who is the parent of an infant will now have to fork out 28 per cent more than what he or she would have previously to pay for a babysitter, day care, or helper. We have not yet even factored the added cost of bus/taxi fares. It therefore begs the question: How can this possibly be a good deal for teachers? What on Earth am I missing?

The basic mathematics that the JTA leadership seems to be using to do their calculations can only best be described as “odd maths”.

Financial burdens during COVID-19

Contrary to what many people might think, the work from home directive of the Government of Jamaica during the novel coronavirus pandemic came with a significant financial, emotional, and physical burden to many teachers. In fact, if one should conduct a survey amongst teachers, you would find that they spent in excess of $250,000 during the work from home period mandated by the Government as they had significant increases in their water, cooking gas, electricity, Internet, and food bills.

It was not unusual for teachers to have to fork out $4,000 to $5,000 per week to purchase phone cards to communicate with students, parents, and school administrators. Many would have also purchased Internet plans for a number of their students.

They also had to use their personal laptops, and whenever these malfunctioned due to overuse, they either had to purchase new ones or foot the cost to have them repaired. Several teachers had to purchase additional furniture for their homes for the purpose of creating a virtual classroom space. In addition, a number of teachers developed major health complications, due to having to be in front of the computer for an extended period of time.

How does the “chicken feed” money of $40,000 even begin to compensate teachers for the costs they have incurred over the last two years? What sort of odd maths is this by the JTA’s leadership?

Negotiated in good faith

The leadership of the JTA is on record as saying that, whilst they were not happy with the deal, they accepted it in good faith, with the intention of having further discussions with the Government concerning plans for teacher reclassification.

The JTA seems not to have learnt from its mistakes. Successive governments have had a history of reneging on negotiated commitments between themselves and the JTA. On what basis, therefore, could the JTA have accepted the deal in good faith? How can two birds in the bush be worth more than one in the hand?

The Government could always argue that the financial coffers of the country have been depleted and therefore they are limited in the percentage reclassification increase that they can give at this time, and teachers should consider what is in the best interest of the country.

But teachers have always acted in good faith and have always made sacrifices, including accepting a paltry three per cent increase and enduring four years of a wage freeze in the interest of the country. The list of sacrifices teachers have had to make in the best interest of this country over the decades cannot be exhausted in this space. Yet governments waste billions of dollars yearly.

Unless there were clear commitments given by the Government in respect of how the reclassification would be conducted, the JTA should never have accepted this chicken feed money, which is tantamount to an insult to hard-working teachers.

Delegates Cajoled?

There have been reports that the JTA’s leadership embarked on an aggressive campaign ahead of the final vote. If this was indeed so, then such actions, in my opinion, were inappropriate and vulgar.

I am forced to conclude that the JTA’s collective acceptance of the offer was not one that was in the best interest of its membership and should never have been accepted.

To my mind, the leadership needs to give an account of itself to the wider membership because it has failed to protect the interest of the teachers, who are now worst off financially, with the acceptance of this deal.

I sincerely hope that the leadership will be able to salvage some amount of credibility at the next round of negotiations for teachers’ reclassification.

Mark Malabver is principal of Yallahs High School.