Teachers syndicate at odds with ministry over salary deductions

AMMAN – The Jordan Teachers Association (JTA) on Tuesday criticised the Ministry of Education for ceasing the collection of a monthly deduction from its members’ salaries for the JTA fund.     

The JTA said in a statement that the monthly deduction is the responsibility of the ministry. 

The ministry decided to stop the JD1 monthly deduction at the beginning of this month and sent a letter to the JTA, saying that the decision was taken because many teachers said they want to pay the subscriptions themselves. 

Education Ministry Spokesperson Walid Jallad said the decision was taken in line with the system applied in other professional associations, noting that many ministry employees are members of other syndicates. 

“Most of the other associations› members pay the monthly amount by themselves,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone on Tuesday. 

The ministry had been in charge of deducting the monthly amount since the establishment of the JTA in 2011, under official written authorisation from teachers.

The JTA asked the ministry to provide it with a list the teachers who said they will pay their own subscriptions. 

The association also threatened to organise several “escalatory activities” in cooperation with its branches across the Kingdom, especially with the approach of the second school semester, if the ministry does not meet the demands they both recently agreed on.   

Last year, the association organised a two-week strike that crippled public school education at the beginning of the scholastic year.

The JTA’s demands at the time included changes to the civil service by-law regarding sick leaves, promotions and leaves without pay; investigating the Education Ministry’s pension fund and referring the case to the judiciary; implementing a “better medical insurance system”; enacting legislation to protect teachers against assaults; awarding them more financial benefits; and ensuring that they are given “better contracts” at private schools.

In October 2014, the Law Interpretation Bureau ruled that the teachers’ strike hampered students’ interests and right to education.

In its decision, which was published in the Official Gazette, the bureau highlighted that strikes are an “illegitimate” tactic for teachers that violate several by-laws as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The bureau urged teachers to pursue legitimate methods of voicing their concerns and demands instead.