‘If not now, when?’
JTA president says teachers’ salary fight is social justice battle
Published:Monday | January 5, 2026 | 12:07 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Mark Malabver says the long-running dispute over teachers’ salaries and conditions of service is not simply an industrial issue but a fight for social justice, warning that continued delays threaten the sustainability of Jamaica’s education system.
Malabver made the comments during the reopening of the JTA’s Western Regional Offices in Montego Bay, St James, last Friday, where he pushed back strongly against any suggestion that the timing was wrong for salary negotiations.
“So let me ask the question: if not now, when? Every time the issue of salaries and conditions of service comes up as it relates to our teachers, it’s not a good time. It has never been a good time for us,” Malabver said.
He suggested that teachers’ sacrifices are often taken for granted, describing the situation as both unfair and troubling.
“Sometimes I get the impression that there are some members, some quarters, in society that are ungrateful for the sacrifice of our teachers. I get that impression sometimes, and it is unfortunate,” he told colleagues.
Malabver stressed that the matter extends far beyond wages and contracts, noting that teachers have been without a contract since April 2025.
“And I tell you why it is unfortunate for me. The issue of salaries and conditions of service is not just about money and contract – and we have been without a contract since April 2025 – but it’s a fight for social justice,” he said.“How a society treats its teachers is a direct reflection of whose labour it values and whose well-being it is prepared to safeguard.”
Reaffirming the importance of educators to national development, Malabver said teaching underpins every profession.
“The teaching profession is the foundation of all other professions, and for this reason the issues of salaries and conditions of service will remain at the forefront of the JTA’s agenda this year, come what may,” he said.
HIGH-LEVEL PERFORMANCE
Citing data from the Ministry of Education and the Jamaica Teaching Council, Malabver said Jamaican teachers continue to perform at a high level despite persistent challenges.
“In excess of 95 per cent of our teachers are between satisfactory and exemplary for the last three years,” he said. “Anecdotally speaking, wherever you go in the world and find a cluster of Jamaican teachers, it is those teachers who dominate those award ceremonies.”
However, he pointed to what he described as a glaring contradiction in how teachers are compensated.
“Our teachers are amongst the best in this region, but here is our uncomfortable reality. Our teachers are amongst the lowest paid in the Caribbean, and that is a fact established by the CAPRI (Caribbean Policy Research Institute) Report,” Malabver said. “But here is another uncomfortable truth. Our politicians are amongst the highest paid in the Caribbean, and we are not saying this in a begrudging way. We are not being bad-minded, I am saying it because it is factual, and there is a need to stir our consciousness to action.”
He warned that goodwill alone can no longer sustain teaching excellence.
“Teaching excellence can no longer be sustained by goodwill, personal sacrifice and moral appeals,” he said. “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes before Bloom’s taxonomy.”
Referencing the government-commissioned Ernst & Young Report, Malabver said teachers’ value has already been clearly established.
“That report valued teachers at a particular level; it placed the teachers on band six, but our classroom teachers are at band four, and the difference between band six and band four, colleagues, is $1.2 million per year – about $75,000 extra, after tax, per month additional,” he said.
Looking ahead to negotiations, Malabver said the JTA is prepared to stand firm.
“That is how we have quantified our value and that is what we are going to be standing on at negotiations. We are not going to back down, because anything short of that is tantamount to indentured labour.”
He said the Government is expected to provide a date sometime this week indicating when the union will be invited back to the negotiating table.
“We will go with an open mind, and we will go in good faith; but we are going to go with our eyes wide open, because if it’s not one thing, it is another,” he said. “But this time around, Melissa or no Melissa, we are insisting that teachers be paid a salary in keeping with their value and their worth, as has been identified in the Ernst & Young Report.”