HANOVER, Jamaica – For the second time in a week teachers at Rhodes Hall High School in Hanover joined their counterparts across the island in staging industrial action as they voiced their disapproval of the ongoing public sector compensation review exercise.

The teachers – dressed in black – are currently staging a sit-in at the school. At one point, the teachers also took their messages peacefully to the entrance of the school with placards in hand.

One placard read, “3.5 million or higher is our price.”

Another read, “we love our students but we love ourselves more.”

“Teaching is a profession, not a poverty sentence,” stated another placard.

“Our students deserve teachers who can afford to live,” stated another card.

“Nigel [Clarke, Finance and Public Service Minister] ah push Government badness. So, we ah push teacher badness,” another card read.

“Nigel, if yuh nah pay wi, wi a guh dung a St Mary,” one card had written on it.”

Another card had written on it, “RIP wage offer.”

On Tuesday, less than one-third of the teachers at the school located in Orange Bay showed up for work. Students were addressed by the principal before they were sent home.

On Monday, teachers at Green Island High School in the parish started off the job.

Delegates of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) are currently meeting in Kingston where there is a voting on whether to accept or reject the Government’s revised wage offer today.

– Anthony Lewis