Strike takes toll
TEACHERS held firm to their position and struck yesterday, causing classes to be abandoned in hundreds of schools, impacting more than half-a-million students.
But at Ardenne High School in Kingston, sixth form students have signalled willingness to take over lower classes if the strike is prolonged and have said that they have discussed the idea with teachers.
“We suggested to them that if the strike should last beyond Tuesday, sixth form students would have to be substitute teachers until the situation is resolved,” said Jason Clarke as he and four other senior students discussed the issue outside the school’s gate.
“We understand the teachers’ position, but we still do not think that we should have to pay the price.”
Clarke was among about 130 Ardenne students — mostly sixth formers — who turned up for classes and to do a test on communications studies. “We studied so hard for the exam, but I think we should just use the extra time to get ourselves more prepared,” he said.
The teachers union called the strike in an effort to squeeze pay concessions out of the Government.
But there was no indication last night that the administration had a new offer, beyond an increase of three per cent a year on basic pay and its undertaking to appropriately align the salaries of teachers with those of civil servants to at least 80 per cent of what prevails in the private sector by 2005. The parity scheme is already being implemented for civil servants and a study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers to determine where teachers stack up against civil servants is to be completed next month.
Burchell Whiteman, the information minister, who served a decade in the education portfolio, told reporters after yesterday’s weekly meeting of the Cabinet that the Government remained “open to dialogue and discussion”, but essentially repeated what the administration has said before.
“If it should arise that the teachers’ association on reflection said, ‘We are accepting the present offer pending the finalisation of the realignment process’, which process is to be completed by March and the effects of which will be retroactive to October 1 — if that should happen, then that would constitute the basis for a settlement,” he said.
But last night, Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) president Sadie Comrie, who described the strike as “a success”, suggested that her union was in no mood for compromise and would go ahead with today’s planned second day of disruption.
“They said the doors are still open for talks and we have stated our case, so now we will wait until they respond to us,” she told the Observer.
“We have instructed our members to go back to work on Wednesday, and between tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday we will be holding a general meeting to discuss our plans further,” she added.
The education minister, Maxine Henry-Wilson, however stressed that the money aspect of the negotiations was out of her hands and rests with Finance Minister Omar Davies.
“The next move will certainly be in the hands of the Ministry of Finance, since we do not have an additional offer to make at this time,” she said.
Teachers had initially asked for pay hikes of 30 per cent a year on the contract that will cover 2002/2003 and 2003/2004. But late last week the union said it would accept an increase in line with inflation, pending the market parity adjustments.
The administration has said that its first-year offer — the three per cent hike in basic pay, the implementation of a 2.5 per cent movement in increments and other perks — would take the increase to about seven per cent and in line with last year’s inflation.
The union did not agree and yesterday the island’s about 20,000 government-paid teachers mostly stayed away from school. The handful who turned up, stayed away from the classrooms.
Thousands of parents had to make alternative arrangements for their children, and those who couldn’t, had their children stay on school campuses with little or no supervision.
“We are just doing what the Jamaica Teachers Association advised us to do,” said Errol Haughton, a teacher at Meadowbrook High School in Kingston.
He described Henry-Wilson’s largely concilliatory broadcast Sunday night, in which she spelled out the Government’s position and appealed to teachers for patience, as “sheer poppycock”.
“It’s nothing different from what we have heard over and over again,” Haughton said.
Haughton and his teaching colleagues locked themselves in the school’s staff room while a handful who turned up milled about the campus.
“I left all the way from Spanish Town to come here this morning only to find out that the teachers are serious about the strike,” complained fourth former Shameka Miller. “Not even the library is opened today. I am very disappointed.”
Miller had wanted to research a home economics assignment.
Another fourth former, Neville Thomas, did not want to attend school, having heard about the strike, but had no choice but to go. “My parents forced me to and this is what happens,” he said.
Upper sixth student, Natalie Bender, however, only turned up to practice with the school’s quiz team. She and other sixth formers were concerned about their preparation for exams if the disruption goes beyond today.
“I am not prepared to deal with a prolonged strike,” said Kerrina McGowan.
At Calabar High School, one fourth form student felt he would be “OK” as long as the strike did not go beyond today, and Andrew Lumsdem felt that a short-term disruption would give him “more time to study”.
For first former Garfield Allen, the strike was a big emotional let down after hard preparation for a series of school tests. “This week is test week and I was looking forward to doing the tests because I studied hard,” he said. — Additional reporting by Olivia Campbell