00:00Members of TUTA have previously protested outside of the Ministry of Finance, the CPO's office,
00:08and today they have taken that protest to the Ministry of Education over concerns about their Unimed plan.
00:15The problem, according to President of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association, Martin Lumpkin,
00:20is in the enrollment of members to the medical insurance plan, which is under M&M Insurance.
00:26We have had reports from our members that they would deliver the enrollment card to the Ministry of Education
00:35and months after, when there's no deduction and they do their investigation,
00:40there's no evidence of them having dropped any documents at the Ministry of Education.
00:46The association states that hundreds of teachers are still waiting to get on the plan
00:51and it is calling on the Education Ministry to change the process of admittance.
00:56If you are eligible after two years of continuous employment, that should be an automatic enrollment.
01:04The employer, which is the Education Ministry, contributes 60% to the monthly installment,
01:10while employees contribute 40%.
01:13We're told members who have opted for independent insurance coverage are also running into challenges
01:19as the medical claims they submit to Unimed are taking several months to over a year to process,
01:26including those that need to be sent to the co-insurance company.
01:30By that time, the three-month period usually set by insurance companies for the submission of claims expires and workers lose out.
01:39Teachers says the Unimed plan is solely dependent on the contributions received.
01:44The plan is in deficit at this time, over $35 million and more and counting.
01:50In the past, when we had a deficit, there was an injection by the government.
01:55The government seems to be hesitant in having that injection to at least ease up what is taking place temporarily.
02:03Meanwhile, Lumpkin says an audit of the Unimed plan was done by the Ministry of Finance
02:10and although TUTOR has requested the information, the response from the Chief Personnel Officer is that TUTOR is not required to have it.
02:18We are certain there would have been recommendations in terms of having the plan run efficiently.
02:24We have not heard anything.
02:26We are saying at least come out and let the public know, let the members of the teaching service know
02:32what are the recommendations, what they can face in the future.
02:36On another note, TUTOR says substitute teachers have not been paid their outstanding salaries since May of this year
02:43and some arrears settled up to that point were for months prior.
02:47Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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