THE LEADERSHIP of the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) has distinguished itself this past weekend by a series of actions that suggest confusion at best and imbecility at worst.
Late Friday afternoon, representatives of the JTA were in a frantic scramble alerting school principals and contact teachers of a planned total shutdown of the education system for yesterday (Monday). Not unreasonably, some teachers expressed annoyance at the late notice particularly since some students would already have left for the afternoon and would not have been duly warned. Within 48 hours, on Sunday, the president of the JTA, Mrs. Sadie Comrie, was appealing to teachers not to proceed with the strike that the JTA itself had called since a conciliatory meeting was set for Thursday at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. The association considered it prudent to allow dialogue and negotiations to continue.
At the same time JTA secretary general, Dr. Adolph Cameron, was conceding that normality could not be guaranteed in the school system. So in effect, he had little clue what was likely to happen yesterday.
It seems that the incumbent leaders of the JTA are determined to eat their cakes and have them. On the one hand they do not want to lose favour with their increasingly agitated and dissatisfied members and on the other hand they want to be accommodating in the talks with the Government.
At the very least, Mrs. Comrie and her colleagues have provided ammunition for their detractors. Surely they would have been aware from last week of the talks scheduled for this Thursday. How then was the decision arrived at last Friday for another round of protests ahead of the talks? Is it that the JTA, stung by criticisms from its rank and file members about its ineffectiveness in negotiations, felt obliged to go along with the militants in its midst who were demanding further protests?
We will not argue on this occasion about the merits of a strike to press home demands for higher salaries. We are concerned however that the leaders of an organisation which is supposed to help guide the nation's education process should appear to be as confused as they do at present.
Happily, the potential chaos that might have resulted from its flip flop advisories has not materialised. But by its clear lack of leadership, the JTA has squandered much of the public sympathy for the cause of its members.
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