KINGSTON, Jamaica — Several members of staff of the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) and the Vocational Training Development Institute (VTDI) are this morning protesting the lack of action taken by the Ministry of Education and HEART/NSTA Trust to resolve ongoing issues at the company.

Employees stood outside the gates of the National TVET Centre on Gordon Town Road in Kingston with placards shouting, “We need justice. No answers, no work!”

Both the NCTVET and the VTDI have been stuck in limbo since 2018 between the education ministry and the trust following HEART's merger with the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL), the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Apprenticeship Board.

Read: Disgruntled NCTVET employees, HEART clash over wages, benefits

Read: VTDI employees also frustrated with HEART

Speaking with OBSERVER ONLINE on Thursday, spokesperson for NCTVET Earl Samuels shared that all staff members are on board with the protest and are prepared to do so for as long as it takes.

“We are protesting the long drawn out transition of the NCTVET from HEART Trust to the Ministry of Education. Persons are inconvenienced and have to put their life on hold because HEART is not willing to offer long term contracts for persons, HEART is not willing to confirm positions so you have persons who are acting for a number of years because of this long transition,” Samuels explained.

He added that HEART reappraised pay for all employees, an exercise from which the NCTVET and the VTDI would have been excluded because of the ongoing transition.

“So we can have a case where persons can have the same job title, the same job functions at NCTVET as at HEART but HEART is being paid much more and they are still reporting to HEART and still paid by HEART,” Samuels said.

“HEART has tried to have a Ministry of Labour meeting, but to date, the Ministry of Education has not come to the table to discuss the grounds put forward to them so it's been just HEART and NCTVET and the union, no acknowledgement from the Minister of Education, no acknowledgement from the Permanent Secretary,” he continued, adding that the ministry has met with the board chairmen of HEART and NCTVET but has not scheduled a meeting with NCTVET staff as was requested from October of last year.  

Samuels said staff members hope to have the “Ministry of Education finally respect us and come to the table to indicate to us when we will be fully transitioned and when we can start discussing our salary packages”.