Doodhai targets teacher salary negotiations

Chief among these, he said yesterday, will be salary negotiations for the period 2014 to 2017 with the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO), the non-payment of increments an incremental arrears, the slow pace of upgrades for teachers and the inordinate delays in the processing of superannuation benefits.

Doodhai said the working conditions in which many teachers were made to function also was cause for concern. “There are several schools in which teachers work in deplorable conditions and we will be making a case to the Ministry of Education by highlighting those schools that are in substandard condition.

The Ministry of Education must pay special attention to these schools,” he told Sunday Newsday.

Doodhai, who served as second vice-president under the former Davananad Sinanan-led TNT (The New TTUTA) slate, won the presidency of the union as an independent candidate in convincing fashion on Thursday with a tally of 4,648 votes, beating his closest rival Nirmala Chinebas-Dindial by more than 3,500 votes.

Chinebas-Dindial, who led the Team TNT slate, received 1,077 votes in the election.

Jemima Riley and Kendell Kittel, both of whom contested the post of TTUTA president, got 935 votes and 332 votes, respectively.

Doodhai said he was overwhelmed by his victory.

“I am ecstatic to lead TTUTA and the victory is even sweeter because I contested it as an independent candidate,” he said.

“In that regard, I have created history as the first independent candidate to become TTUTA president.” Doodhai said the fact that he had won the position by more than 3,500 votes was a clear indication that teachers had confidence in him to lead TTUTA, the recognised union for the nation’s teachers, for the next three years.

“I want to give the teachers the assurance that I will work diligently in representing them and in ensuring that their rights are respected at all times,” he added.

Doodhai said the long-awaited Teachers’ Centre, earmarked to be constructed at Carlsen Field, Couva, also will be high on his team’s agenda be constructed as well as ongoing initiatives to ensure the ongoing professional development of teachers.

Under his watch, Doodhai said the union also will adopt a zero tolerance stance on health and safety issues affecting teachers in schools.

Replacing Antonia De Freitas as TTUTA’s First Vice-President is Team TNT’s Marlon Seales who beat Nicholas Cooper-Neaves.