Delegates of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) have voted to accept the Government’s latest wage offer under the compensation review.
Preliminary reports are that of the 784 ballots that were cast, a total of 629 votes were in favour of accepting the offer, while 147 delegates rejected the deal.
The vote took place at a JTA special conference which was held online on Sunday after the Finance and the Public Service Ministry sent a new offer to the association on Friday.
The acceptance of the offer comes after JTA delegates rejected a previous offer on Wednesday, and many teachers staged sit-ins or sickouts for four days last week to, among other things, voice their displeasure at the proposed salaries that were offered to them by the Government under the compensation review.
Late on Thursday, the JTA asked all the teachers to return to work on Friday following an agreement that was arrived at between the association, the Education and Youth Ministry, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr Nigel Clarke, has been calling on the teachers to sign the wage offer or risk losing their back payments for this fiscal year, which ends on March 31.
