Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

If the delegates of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) accept an offer made by the Government, educators will get a sweet gift for Christmas.

The Gleaner understands that consistent with the 2006-2008 heads of agreement, the salaries of public-school teachers are to be increased to 80 per cent of those of their counterparts in the private sector.

The JTA delegates are to vote on the offer at a special conference next week.

The teachers also got most of the items in the claim that was submitted to the Government.

This agreement was reached following a six-hour meeting between the JTA and the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service on Tuesday.

Yesterday, JTA President Doran Dixon was wary of making any disclosures, only telling The Gleaner that a final offer was made to the association, which represents more than 22,000 of the island's public-sector teachers.

He declined to outline the details of the offer.

"We feel that it is an offer we can take to the special delegates conference, which will be held October 25," said Dixon. "We will trust the judgement of the delegates who will accept or reject this offer."

Dixon said a meeting would also be held tomorrow with the JTA's Salaries and Conditions of Service Committee.

Not vexed

Asked if the JTA was satisfied with the offer, Dixon replied: "We are not vexed, but would have preferred if we had got the money now."

The Gleaner understands that the teachers will not receive a one-off payment. Instead, payments will begin in December and continue until June 2009.

Last week, the Government said it was not in a position to increase public-school teachers' pay to within 80 per cent of that of their private-sector counterparts.

Dwight Nelson, minister without portfolio in the finance ministry, said last Wednesday that because of tight fiscal constraints, the Government could not foot the bill to realign teachers' salaries.

Dixon warned on Monday that the school system could be affected if the teachers were not satisfied with the outcome of Tuesday's meeting.

Several meetings have been held between the JTA and the finance ministry as teachers insist that their salaries should be increased to 80 per cent of what obtains in the private sector.

Dixon has claimed this would cost the Government about $10 billion more in salaries and allowances, but the Government has said it would cost $15 billion.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com