Teachers on alert as TTUTA meets CPO

AS THE Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) prepares to meet with the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) Narieman Hosein-Ahmad today, teachers have been put on high alert. TTUTA president Trevor Oliver said depending on the outcome of today’s meeting with the CPO, there could be heightened protest action by teachers. He stressed however that if a reasonable offer is made to teachers, TTUTA will give it consideration since its main intention is to reach an amicable solution rather than be confrontational. Oliver said TTUTA’S General Council decided at its emergency meeting on Monday evening that if the CPO “does not put a substantial offer on the table, our actions will escalate.”

He said the General Council authorised the union’s executive to “meet with the principals’ associations, both at the primary and secondary level to bring them into the loop and get more support.” Teachers are also to be mobilised to be in a “state of readiness” for further action. Oliver said the General Council noted that under the UNC government, teachers got one of their better agreements. He said that at that time, the then Opposition led by current Prime Minister Patrick Manning criticised the agreement saying a major weakness was that Teachers I in the primary schools and Teachers III in the secondary schools, as well as Tech/Voc teachers were shortchanged.

Those teachers make up some 11,000 of the teaching population. Oliver said  Manning is now in a better position as Minister of Finance to deal with the matter, more so because the price of oil has increased. He said that could be made to the union. TTUTA reported a 72 percent support for Monday’s “rest and reflection” day, while the Ministry of Education reported 60 percent participation by teachers and 80 percent absenteeism by students. The Ministry said the low turnout of students was in anticipation of the teachers’ actions.