The territory’s’ two teacher’s unions have rejected a tentative wage agreement with the V.I. government. Pay will remain at current levels until a contract is approved.
According to a statement from the St. Croix and St. Thomas locals of the American Federation of Teachers, Gov. Kenneth Mapp suspended salary negotiations in February.
The unions object to Mapp’s recent unilateral changes to government workers’ pay levels which set starting salaries for teachers at $44,000. That is a $10,000 increase for entry level teachers. (See Related Links)
The unions’ joint statement calls the governor’s action a “union-busting move designed to divide and conquer the union membership to secure a contract during this election cycle.”
“This is totally unjust. There must be parity among members of our bargaining units,” St. Croix Federation of Teachers President Rosa Soto-Thomas said.
She and St. Thomas-St. John Federation of Teachers President Carol Callwood say any new collective bargaining agreement has to address more than just starting salaries.
“The government should not only focus on recruitment but also on the retention of teachers,” Soto-Thomas said.
“Teaching is a labor of love. Our members remain on board for their students because they are passionate about their profession. They are demanding to be treated fairly,” she said.
According to the unions, the agreement also failed because many educators are still not receiving the salary they are entitled to under previous contracts. They say the current salary schedule has 30 steps for professional classifications and the intent was for staff to advance a step each year. But that was not implemented.
