6 December 2019: The payment of increment to the staff at the TA Marryshow Community College (TAMCC) has been an ongoing challenge over the last 6 years.
The government gives an annual subvention to TAMCC of $14 million, plus an additional $1.9 million is collected through tuition payment and fees.
Today council is indebted to its staff to the amount of $6.1 million, which represents increments that was unpaid by the TAMCC over the past 6 years.
In August this year (2019) a new TAMCC Council was appointed with a majority of new members. The two long-standing union representatives on the TAMCC Council, PWU President and GUT President General, raised the issue of increments to TAMCC staff at the September and October meetings of the council. On 7 November 2019 the unions started industrial actions in order to press this new council for a speedy financial solution.
After approximately four weeks of continuous industrial action by the unions and several meetings and negotiations with the unions and council appointed committee, exchanges of proposals and counter-proposals, the council has on 6 December 2019 presented the unions with a formal written offer wherein council will pay the $6.1 milllion increment over a period of time as follows:
- That the first schedule payment will be made on or before 30 December 2019 in the sum of one million, five hundred thousand dollars ($1.5 million).
- The schedule for the payment of the other tranches will be made by 30 March 2020 upon the receipt by the council of the completed manpower and financial audit reports. These reports, will become the basis for an understanding of the available financial leverage and, for ensuring prudence in the scheduling and payment of the remaining tranches.
TAMCC is committed to the payment of increments and council expects the unions to study the formal written offer and continue negotiations toward a settlement. All council members (longstanding and new) are fully aware of the devastating effect any irrational solution to the increment payment will have on the college’s existence and the conduct of its core function of post-secondary education of the nation’s students for the future development of Grenada.
Augustine Vesprey, Interim Chairman
