Teachers told: Don’t strike, back pay on the way

EDUCATION Minister Nick Kuman has made it clear that teachers will be paid their three per cent increment from the next pay and there is no point going on strike.
Kuman spoke in Port Moresby yesterday after the PNG Teachers’ Association threatened to go on strike and disrupt the start of the second term if the Government did not honour its commitment to pay outstanding salary adjustments by Friday. “Their three per cent pay increment will be paid to them commencing this fortnight,” he said.
That (pay) is something managed by the Finance Department, who looks after the Government payroll.” Kuman said it was important for teachers to understand that they could not be paid a lump sum.
“You’ve got around 120,000-plus public servants of which 60,000 are teachers so it’s half the total public servants in the country. We cannot pay lump sum to everyone all at once. The plan now is to pay the increment region by region and it will be paid every fortnight commencing this pay period.” Association general secretary Ugwalubu Mowana said he did not agree with the Government’s decision to pay them in stages as staggered payments would be eaten up by taxes and teachers in rural schools would suffer the most.