Information has reached the Ministry of Education that several teachers have not reported for duty this morning, Monday, 14 October 2024.
The ministry acknowledges that less than 5% of teachers did not receive their September salary due to delays in the reappointment process. In response, the ministry has been actively collaborating with our public service partners and the Grenada Union of Teachers (GUT) to speedily resolve the matter.
To date, the ministry held 2 formal meetings with the GUT on Thursday, 3 October and Tuesday, 8 October 2024, respectively, and engaged in several telephone conversations in an effort to address the matter. Following these discussions, the ministry received 2 lists of teachers from the Union: the first, submitted on Wednesday, 9 October, included 57 teachers, and the second, received on Thursday, 10 October, listed an additional 14 teachers.
The Ministry of Education promptly reviewed both lists and provided the GUT with detailed updates regarding the status of each teacher. The information covered teachers who have already been paid, those who were removed from the payroll in error, those whose reappointments are still being processed, newly appointed teachers, teachers who resigned from the service, and teachers for whom we have not yet received reappointment information. Of the list of 57 teachers, 23 did not receive salary. Further, of the list of 14, all the teachers eligible for payment were paid.
On Wednesday, 9 October and Friday, 11 October the ministry processed the payments for a batch of 23 teachers, and the Ministry of Finance gave the assurance that these payments will be completed today. Furthermore, the names of 14 additional teachers were submitted by the Ministry of Education for reappointment processing.
In light of the ongoing cordial engagements with the GUT, the Ministry of Education is unaware that we are in a state of industrial unrest. Further, we have not received any formal communication from the GUT indicating that the Grievance Mechanism has been activated. The ministry is therefore very concerned by the decision of many teachers to stay away from school, thereby disrupting the teaching and learning process and contributing to further learning loss among our students.
Therefore, in keeping with good industrial relations practices, we urge all our teachers to report to work as per usual. The ministry remains committed to ensuring that all outstanding payments to affected teachers are duly processed and will continue to engage the GUT and our public service partners to resolve the longstanding issue of delayed payments within the public service system.
Again, the ministry apologises for the delayed payment to the teachers affected. We also particularly wish to thank all the teachers who showed up for work as usual, mindful that our students are depending on them.
Ministry of Education
That was spiteful by the GUT… for 23 teachers who didn’t get paid and u encourage the rest of the country to strike you guys need to be advised
The current leadership of GUT have not approached thia matter professionally, which resulted in a disservice to our adolescents, youths and young adults. Further, a small percentage of the government employees purports to be teachers, but holds a job and not a career, allegedly failed to report for duty on October 14th, 2024. It is clear that some were misled by GUT leadership, others, in their mischievous posture, chose to use the opportunity to erased the success of the Dickon Mitchell administration. Shame on those that took the opportunity to walk the street of maliciousness. You are ungrateful, chesty, unthankful and toxic. Being controlled by a evil heart, you quickly and deliberately forgot the things others have done on your behalf. I won’t list any of good deeds done for you, go to the mirror and you’ll find them on your internal big screen and allow them to speak to your dying conscience.
And so, from time to time an employee may require a day off for several reasons. Perfect attendance is a rare thing from students, teachers, police, hotel workers, rum factory workers, all the same.