WITH the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) coming to a close next March, Ruel Reid is taking up leadership of the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) at a time he believes will be the most contentious in the teacher unions’ 20-year history of salary negotiations.

But he is prepared.

“We have already indicated that we want to and we are going to begin our negotiations September 2005. We want an increase by April 2006,” he said decisively.

“We have no intention to wait for the end of March 2006. We are going to be very strategic. We will be looking forward to double digit increase in each year of the contract and the quantum we would be asking for will be in line with what the police is asking for: 47 per cent over the two year period,” he said.

The police have actually asked for 45 per cent, and though they are not signatories to the public sector MOU, government has refused to consider the request, saying it would breach the agreement with labour unions.

The MOU upholding a two-year wage freeze for public sector workers, was signed at the end of calendar year 2003 between trade unions and the government.

It ends March 31, 2006, but government has signalled that it wants an extension.

But, with the erosion of spending power for frozen wages, both the labour unions and now the teachers believe it would be folly to extend the pact, in the face of government’s inability to stabilise prices.

Reid, a master teacher at Munro College – whose presidency of the JTA becomes official with his vestment at the JTA’s three-day conference, August 22-24 – told the Sunday Observer that the JTA was not even prepared to consider the idea of an extension of the MOU.

Instead, he is hoping for a speedy wage settlement and he has already started collaborating with the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) to ensure that this happens.

“We don’t see the need for a long drawn out process and I’ve already indicated to Senator Dwight Nelson (JCTU president) that I’m holding the confederation responsible for the process of expediting the post MOU negotiations,” he said.

The teachers union, which represents more than 22,000 educators, had reluctantly signed on to the MOU last year, and were the last group to capitulate, fearing that it would have put its members at a disadvantage.

In recent weeks, the trade unions have voiced their concern that government’s planned hike in bus fares, coupled with a projected 15 per cent growth in inflation, could hurt public sector workers.

Last year, inflation was at 13.7 per cent and the year before that 14.1 per cent, all levels way beyond the 8 to 9 per cent, and six per cent that the finance ministry had undertaken to deliver over the two years of the MOU.

The wage negotiations will be one of several pressing issues on his plate when Reid officially takes office September 1, a week after his vestment at the Ocho Rios conference, scheduled for the Jamaica Grande.

Prime Minister PJ Patterson will be the keynote speaker at the conference.

Immediately after his installation, Reid will begin, he said, pushing for an enhanced pension fund for teachers, a review of government’s master teacher initiative, and a revision of the School Based Assessment (SBA) requirement for students doing the Caribbean Examination Council’s Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

Speaking on the pension issue, Reid said the current $500 per month contribution which teachers make to their tax deductible pension fund is inadequate.

“Demographic studies show that people are living longer, life expectancy is moving beyond 75 years, so there is obviously a need for this pension fund to properly prepare them for retirement,” he said.

Currently legislation is in the works to increase the amount allowable to 20 per cent of gross salary or a maximum of $1 million, but there needs to be companion legislative change in terms of an act passed by the Ministry of Finance, he added.

“There is legislation in train to increase the tax deductible pension contribution from the current $6,000 per year (i.e $500 per month) to $1 million per year but the act that governs the pension contribution under the Ministry of Finance needs to be amended in line with that change,” said Reid.

“The $500 is very small.”

The JTA president-elect also indicated plans for training workshops on classroom behaviour management to alert JTA members to new modes of discipline and their application in a manner that conforms with the Child Care and Protection Act.

The new laws frown on corporal punishment.

As for the SBAs, a meeting between education ministry officials and the CXC is in the works to evaluate the current system.

“Prior to the introduction of CAPE, the sixth formers never had SBA. But now the same teachers who teach CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) also teach CAPE, so there is a serious issue of time and effectiveness in the process,” said Reid, who has authored two books on CXC examinations.

“We need to be able to modify and make the system more efficient. We are checking to see if in fact the system is impacting negatively on the teaching-learning performance and student outcome.”

If they are, he added, “then clearly there needs to be a revision. Teachers have contacted the JTA about this matter and I’m seeking to have the workshop in order to find common ground and solutions.”

And as for development of the association itself, Reid says the JTA’s district associations will be required to adopt an early childhood institution – the purpose of which, said Reid, is to encourage teachers to implement best practices at these schools, thereby improving their standards and ultimately lifting the quality of students entering primary institutions.

greenev@jamaicaobserver.com