Education Ministry: Most teachers get back pay on Tuesday

MOST of the country's teachers will get their promised back pay by Tuesday, the Ministry of Education (MoE) said in a statement on Monday, titled, Important information regarding back pay for teachers.

"The Ministry of Education advises that 11,540 (90 per cent) of active, eligible teachers across Trinidad and Tobago will receive their backpay with December 2023 salaries tomorrow, December 19.

"Payment for the remaining 10 per cent of active teachers will continue to be processed and is estimated to be completed by December 31."

The ministry said payments for retired teachers will be processed subsequently.

The MoE has established an e-mail address – backpayqueries@moe.gov.tt – to receive and respond to queries on teachers' back-pay emoluments.

The ministry wished all its stakeholders and the country a safe, happy and holy Christmas season.

In his budget speech, Finance Minister Colm Imbert had promised to pay $1 billion in back pay by Christmas to members of trade unions which had accepted the four per cent wage hike offered by Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) Dr Darryl Dindial.

Those are teachers; fire, prison and police officers; amalgamated workers at the Port of Spain City Corporation; and the Defence Force Pay Review Committee.

However an irate Prime Minister raised eyebrows at a subsequent news briefing in late October by saying a public servant had told him it could not be paid until March, even as Dr Rowley then promised to seek a way.

Minister of Public Administration Allyson West and Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly had subsequently assured reporters the Government was working on delivering the back pay.

Imbert last Wednesday told the House of Representatives that 30,000 public sector workers would receive back pay by Christmas. He also recently said some 1,700 public servants who had retired in 2014-2016 would each receive a one-off $4,000 lump sum payment, tax-free.