Doodhai warns education minister

TT Unified Teachers Association, (TTUTA) president Lynsley Doodhai has warned that there may be teacherless classrooms next term if negotiations with the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) are not started by September.

Addressing a large contingent of workers at Labour Day observances at Avocat Junction, Fyzabad, on Tuesday, he said teachers were working on 2014 salaries, as negotiations for 2014-2017 had not begun.

“It has been almost three years now that TTUTA has submitted proposals for a new collective agreement for the period 2014-2017 to the CPO and almost three years later, TTUTA continues to wait on the CPO to respond to our proposals."

“I want to let the government know that after almost three years of waiting, teachers are getting impatient, teachers are becoming restless, they are becoming frustrated and they are getting angry. Teachers have been signalling their discontent to the association for some time now and have been calling for action."

Doodhai said Finance Minister Colm Imbert, in his mid-year review of the budget, had said the country had turned the corner and was beginning “to see clearly now.”