More tension over scheduling of vacation leave for teachers

Tension is again building over the continued push by the Ministry of Education for teachers to take vacation leave outside the time scheduled for teaching.

Education Minister Ronald Thwaites has reiterated his stance that teachers must take vacation leave outside of  the 190 days on which teaching takes place, as stipulated by the Education Ministry's Code of  Regulation.

Mr. Thwaites, speaking at the Ministry's Region Three back-to-school conference in Ocho Rios on August 15, said, despite the Code requiring that vacation leave not be taken during instructional time, 95 per cent of  vacation leave applied for this year, falls during the 190 days of  instruction.

He reiterated that the push for teachers to take vacation leave outside of  school time is not aimed at curtailing their leave entitlement. 

Rather, he stressed, the aim is to reduce challenges arising from the requirement for alternative arrangements to be made for filling temporary vacancies created by leave granted during school time.

The Minister had previously revealed that the practice of  teachers taking vacation leave during school time costs the government billions of dollars annually.    

JTA adamant                             

In response, Dr. Mark Nicely, President of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) is adamant that the union will not sit idly by and allow the Minister to "arbitrarily modify leave arrangements for teachers."

The Minister has repeatedly based his position on what he says is the provision for leave in the Education Code of Regulations. But Dr Nicely told RJR News he was not aware that the Code makes such a stipulation.

Asserting that "the leave arrangement for teachers is well defined," and arose from a process of collective bargaining, he stressed that, in order for that arrangement ot be modified, "the Ministry of Education must sit with the Jamaica Teachers Association and have a discussion."

Any modification of the arrangement would therefore have to be the result of negotiations, he said, warning that the JTA will not tolerate unilateral imposition of changes by the Ministry.

Dr. Nicely is contending that the teachers are being singled out for different treatment regarding vacation leave entitlement. But, according to him, teachers get the same amount of vacation leave as any other public sector worker.

"The other public sector workers apply for their leave during regular work time. Nurses do not wait until they are on a break to go on leave," he declared.

Dr. Nicely is recommending that, instead of focusing on teachers only, the government should hold discussions with all public sector groups and negotiate the modification of leave arrangements for all of them.