JTA head Mark Malabver says he won’t settle for record-low teacher pay increase

POINT, Hanover — Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Mark Malabver says he is determined not to sign off on a pay deal that would leave teachers with the smallest salary increase in the union’s 62-year history.

“I will not go down in history as being the president that got the least increase,” Malabver said as wage discussions continue with the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

He delivered the comments during Thursday’s opening session of the JTA’s Helen Stills Professional Development Day at the Grand Palladium Hotel in Point, Hanover.

Malabver told delegates he has no intention of repeating what he described as a past experience involving a former association president who returned to members without an increase, describing it as “came back with a deep freeze” on salaries.

“I don’t intend to be that president. I don’t intend to call any names, but the truth is, colleagues, that I am way past the wage freeze,” he declared.

The JTA is due to sit with the finance ministry again on May 20 as negotiations proceed.

As he has done previously, the union leader placed the wage talks in a wider discussion about rights, while again drawing a contrast between what educators earn and what politicians receive. Still, he said he feels an agreement is within reach.

“I believe that something good is going to happen this year for our teachers. I believe that. And I maintain, colleagues, that we have to get to a point where we recognise that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes before Bloom’s taxonomy. And what this means, colleagues, is that you cannot expect a teacher to be in the classroom operating at his or her optimal level and their basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter are not being met,” Malabver stressed.

“I know you’re vexed, but I believe that something is going to happen. And the same mouth that cussed today, hopefully they’ll end up being a little bit grateful tomorrow. But uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” he added.

The Helen Stills Professional Development Day was staged under the theme ‘Putting On My Mask First: Protecting My Physical and Mental Health’, and Malabver used part of his address to reassure and encourage teachers.

“The atmosphere suggests that you should relax. And it’s important, colleagues, because for too long educators have been expected to pour endlessly into others while running on empty themselves,” he said.

He pointed to the strain he said teachers face daily in schools, citing emotional and physical pressures.

“We ask teachers on a daily basis, colleagues, to manage trauma, indiscipline, grief, anxiety, increased workloads, and the emotional burdens that come with the profession. And that is why, colleagues, this theme is so important. ‘Putting on my mask first’ is not selfish. It is wisdom. It is recognising, colleagues, that protecting your mental and physical health is a professional responsibility and an act of self-preservation,” he said.

Malabver also said teachers often feel conflicted when they take time away from work, even when unwell.

“No matter how sick you are and you lie down in your bed and you feel sick, you always remember that student that if you don’t go to school, chances are he won’t get his lunch today… And if you don’t go to school, you won’t finish the curriculum,” he said.

He argued that even when teachers are upset, concern for students can lead some to delay industrial action, and that the same compassion is later turned against them in negotiations.

“The Government tends to use [it] and exploit us. They always say, ‘Remember di pickney dem’. And we, like idiots, always remember the pickney dem at the end of the day,” Malabver stated.

He also spoke about difficulties the education sector has faced this year, including fallout from Hurricane Melissa last October, saying the west was among the areas badly affected.

“The education system has never been tested as it has been tested this year. We faced Hurricane Melissa, and a number of our colleagues in the west were seriously damaged. As an association we decided that we had to respond to that call,” Malabver said, as he outlined the JTA’s support work.

“We identified some $35 million and we decided that we were going to prepare some care packages… We distributed over 2,000 care packages to our teachers and that cost us in excess of $15 million… What we are doing and what we plan to do in terms of completing our Hurricane Melissa initiative is going to cost us in excess of $50 million,” he added.