00:00Teachers have finally seen the materialization of their 5% pay increase,
00:05which was agreed to in April of 2025 before the general election.
00:09It comes after months of lobbying the Ministry of Finance on its promise for the additional pay,
00:14which was expected in December of last year, but dragged into this year.
00:19However, a number of members in the teaching service would have to wait a bit longer.
00:24Based on the update from President of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association,
00:30Crystal Bevin-Ash.
00:31I am to inform the national community at this point in time, tutors, membership, educators,
00:37some of them have received a new salary.
00:40I wanted to be very clear, not all of them.
00:42The persons in the third schedule, they have not received any new salaries,
00:45and there are one or two teachers who are indicating to us that they have not received.
00:49So that might have been a little, those might have been a little anomalies,
00:52except for the third schedule. That's a large group you're talking about.
00:55According to Tutor, that schedule comprises student support services,
00:59school supervisors, curriculum officers, and members of the Division of Educational Research
01:05and Evaluation.
01:06These are people who are senior level officers in the Ministry of Education.
01:11So it's approximately 70-something of them, about 70-something, yeah, in total.
01:17So these people, go ahead.
01:19About 70-something. So the ones who have gotten their salary increases,
01:23have they also received their back pay?
01:25No. That's what I was going to say.
01:27Nobody, no member of the teaching service would have received any back pay whatsoever.
01:31What we understand is that they're now calculating the back pay.
01:35This is also said to be the reason for the delay in payment for those on the third schedule.
01:40But Tutor clarifies that the information has come from its sources
01:44and not any official correspondence from the finance or education ministries.
01:50The association wrote to the ministries in the past week concerning the retroactive pay
01:54and states that so far, it has gotten no response.
01:58For some teachers, the increase amounts to roughly $400 per month.
02:03First of all, some of them are not very pleased,
02:06but it is what Tutor would have agreed to at that particular point in time.
02:09So they have to treat with it.
02:10At least the back pay would have given them some level of solace.
02:13And they have not received same.
02:15So they're still in limbo, waiting for that.
02:17On March 31st, Tutor is set to stage a protest at the education ministry over several issues,
02:23including the Unimed health insurance plan and the employee assistance program.
02:28Ash says the claim made this month by Education Minister Dr. Michael Dowlath
02:33that the EAP has been fully restored is not what teachers are experiencing.
02:38I tell you at this point in time, that is not true.
02:41That is not true at all.
02:42Because when we call, or any of our members call, or any teacher calls,
02:47they tell them we are not honoring anything from the Ministry of Education
02:50at this particular point in time.
02:52Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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