Teachers urged not to go on strike

FINANCE and Treasury are still looking for money to pay Papua New Guinea’s 70,000 teachers their three per cent increments, the Teachers Association has said.
PNGTA acting general secretary Kingston Alu has called for patience among teachers, advising them not to ponder going on strike over the increment issue.
Alu said there were rumours circulating of a strike action by teachers because they had not received the three per cent increment.
The increment was agreed to by the association, the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) and the Department of Personnel Management.
“We advise our teachers that they should be patient, be more rational in their thinking and decision-making,” Alu said.
“The important thing they (teachers) must know is that the agreement is a legal document now before the Government.
“The Government will look for funds to pay the teachers. So, they shouldn’t be jumping up and down because there is no payment yet.”
Alu explained that some teachers had received adjustments which were not part of the three per cent increment.
“The adjustment was a structural change from the TSC structural review of the positions, and now all teaching positions have been raised.
“For example, if you’re on base one level, you should now move to base two level and so forth.”
He said the Treasury and the Finance departments were looking for money to pay the 70,000 teachers, “which is so big and it will take some time to input all this into the computer system” before making the payments.