ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — Classes at two St Elizabeth schools have been affected as disgruntled teachers are staging sit-ins over wage negotiations between the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) and the Government.

The placard-bearing teachers, at BB Coke High in Junction and Maggotty High, who were dressed in black on Monday morning, have accused the JTA of poor representation in the wage discussions.

On Friday, teachers at the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) also staged a sit-in over the issue.

READ: STETHS teachers angry

Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke recently announced that $4.3 billion has been tacked on to the budget for this fiscal year, which ends on March 31, an indication of the Government’s aim to settle wage disputes.

The police, doctors, and teachers are some of the major groups which have refused to sign off on the new compensation package until there is an improved offer from the Government.

BB Coke High School teacher Marvin Robinson told OBSERVER ONLINE that he and his colleagues are dissatisfied.

“There are two matters that we have — the way the Government is handling the negotiations and the way the JTA is handling the negotiation. We just won’t accept that salary, it is not livable,” said Robinson.

“When we compare that salary to other sectors, we are way below and we consider that to be an insult, a big insult. We are the teachers who create all the other professions and therefore if you are going to treat teachers like that, we have to take a stance,” he added.

Maggotty High teacher Kyron King shared similar sentiments.

“We feel abandoned by the union (JTA). When we look at the current wage scale, we can see that members of the administrative staff have been boosted whereas the trained graduates remain in the gutter and we are very dissatisfied with that,” said King.