MONTEGO BAY, St James — With a weekend vote to file a lawsuit against the Government on behalf of educators who were “forced into retirement”, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) is inching forward with a previous threat to seek redress from the courts.

“At our meeting of the General Council on Saturday, [September 27] the General Council has unanimously voted to instruct the leadership of the JTA to file a lawsuit against the Government with respect to the fact that a number of our teachers were forced into retirement,” JTA President Mark Malabver told the
Jamaica Observer Monday.

He was responding to questions on the sidelines of a 50th anniversary event hosted by Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College in Montego Bay.

A lawsuit had also been threatened in January.

“We have requested something in writing from the Ministry of Finance as to how they intend to treat with the matter. They had committed to doing that and they still have not done that months after. And when I say committed to doing that, that was in about February or thereabouts; they have not done anything,” said Malabver.

The disagreement is related to amendments to the Pensions Act. The JTA had argued that some teachers were being pushed to leave the classroom before the legal retirement age of 65. This, the union noted, had implications for educators who have made arrangements to meet financial obligations based on the expectation that they would be employed up to age 65.

In January, former JTA President Mark Smith told the Observer “about 30 teachers have reached out to us for assistance in navigating the situation”.

At the time, Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon had stressed that pension-related matters fall within the purview of the finance ministry, which would be “scheduling a meeting with the JTA to discuss this matter in very short order”.

In February the Ministry of Education reportedly provided written notification advising that teachers who had not yet reached retirement age would no longer be issued with retirement notices. These updates were reportedly sent to teachers and board chairmen in the Government teaching service.

On May 6, JIS News reported that the Lower House passed legislation granting public officers born between August 1, 1961 and February 28, 1963 the option of retiring before reaching age 65 while still receiving full benefits.

However, Malabver insisted on Monday that the JTA has had no formal word from the education ministry on the issue.

“They have not made any movements on it and, based on that, our members have indicated that we should take the matter to court. We should be going to court in the shortest possible order and, in the coming weeks, we will be engaging our attorney and then we will ask them for some legal guidance and opinions and then we will take it from there,” he told the Observer.

“There has been nothing forthcoming from the Government as to how it is that it intends to treat with this matter and to properly compensate our teachers,” the JTA president added.

Meanwhile, the JTA is also engaged in protracted negotiations with Government for the new wage period that started in April 2025.

“A meeting should be arranged in October. We are waiting on the minister to set the date for that meeting because they would have responded to our letter to them requesting a meeting to continue to advance negotiations,” Malabver explained.

He repeated the JTA’s stance that the latest offer of seven-and-a-half per cent over three years is unacceptable.

“There are various reports that are out there — Ernst & Young report, 2021 IDB report on education, recently there is the CAPRI report and there is the Patterson report. All of those reports have given a clear indication… as to what is happening in the education system with respect to our teachers and where our teachers should be,” the JTA president stated.

“We maintain that the teachers should be properly compensated in keeping with those reports, and we are not prepared to relent on that. But we are going into the negotiations in good faith and we hope that the Government understands that education is an investment, not charity; and if it is an investment then you will reap returns later on down the road,” he added.