Minister Samuda urges UTech, Ja. Academic Staff to Accept Payment Offer

Minister with Responsibility for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Karl Samuda is urging staff at the University of Technology to review and accept UTech’s offer for the settlement of outstanding retroactive payments for 2018/19.

The members of staff, who are represented by the University of Technology Jamaica Academic Staff Union (UTASU), have been off the job since October 24, 2019.

The proposal on the table would see staff being paid $400m of the funds owed to them for 2018/19. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information have pledged $250m from its existing budget and the remaining $150m will be funded by UTech. The $400m is in addition to $1b approved for the University in the Supplementary Estimates approved earlier in October.

Minister Samuda said this proposal is the best offer that the Education Ministry can make at this time. 

“We have had to comb through the budget and make cuts at enormous sacrifice to some of our programmes in order to find these funds. I am appealing to UTech’s academic staff to accept the proposal so classes can resume. Our students must be allowed to continue their education,” he said.