THE JAMAICA TEACHERS’
ASSOCIATION WITHIN THE
JAMAICAN TRADE UNION
MOVEMENT
……….Why are we here today?
“ a battle never stays won. Rights and
freedoms have to be constantly defended..
(and) won again and again. Unfortunately,
history places no obligation on those who
have not lived through its incidents;
memories are short and issues once resolved
have an ugly habit of reappearing as if they
had never been considered before.”
- Sybil Shack, President, 1960 61
2
Early
trade
unionism
in
the
Anglophone
Caribbean stemmed from growing working class
consciousness and desperation of its deplorable
working and living conditions – low and irregular
wages, irregular employment, long hours of
labour, poor housing and sanitation, deficient
water supplies, inadequate medical services,
and lack of educational opportunities.
3
WHY LABOUR UNIONS WERE SLOW TO
DEVELOP
♦ attitude of the planter class in the decades
after Emancipation
♦ the rise of a yeoman peasantry away from
the estates
♦ decline of sugar in the period (1838 – 1865)
4
WHY LABOUR UNIONS WERE SLOW TO DEVELOP
(CONT’D)
♦
influx of labour from India, China, Europe,
North America and Africa reduced the
bargaining position of local labour
♦ the plantocractic dominated Assembly
would not countenance any form of
labour organizations and used their
legislative power to prevent the
development of organized labour.
5
EARLY TRADE UNIONS
Among the earliest unions to emerge were:
♦ Carpenters, Bricklayers and Printers Union
(commonly called the Artisans’ Union)
organized in 1898
This union disintegrated by 1901 as a result
of the depressed economic conditions and
internal dissentions over the auditing of
accounts
EARLY TRADE UNIONS (CONT’D)
♦
Painters’ Union (another artisan union)
founded in 1907 with Marcus Garvey as a
member
♦
The Tobacco Workers’ Union and the
Jamaica Trades and Labour Union, No. 12575
(later No. 16203) of the American Federation
of Labour (AFL)
7
EARLY TRADE UNIONS (CONT’D)
♦ Longshoreemen’s Union (representing dock
workers) founded by Bain Alves in 1919
This union advocated for the legal recognition of
trade unions.
Governor Sir Leslie Probyn (June, 1918 to
August, 1924) was sympathetic to the workers’
cause and enacted in October 1919, a Trade
Union Ordinance which freed trade unions from
the possibility of criminal charges of conspiracy
to which they were subject until then.
8
EARLY TRADE UNIONS (CONT’D)
The ordinance, however, did not protect
unions against liability from damage
resulting from strikes, nor did it legalize
peaceful picketing.
9
THE RISE OF TEACHER TRADE UNIONISM
Early Teacher Unions:
- Teachers were the first group to organize
into Associations/Unions;
- The earliest forms of teacher organizations
were “Educational (Teachers) Associations;
- Educational (Teachers) Association started in
1882;
10
THE RISE OF TEACHER TRADE UNIONISM
(CONT’D)
- By 1894 there were 15 Teachers’
Associations formed on parish basis (one
was a Women Teachers’ Association,
organized in Kingston and St. Andrew and
was separate and distinct from the Kingston
Teachers’ Association and the St. Andrew
Teachers’ Association, through the women
teachers were active in both parish
associations);
- All but 1 (the WTA) was dominated by
Churchmen.
11
MANDATE OF THE EARLY EDUCATION
(TEACHERS) ASSOCIATION
◊ Promote the efficiency of the schools;
◊ Advance the interest of teachers by holding
stated meetings for essays and discussions upon
educational topics;
◊ Circulating among members educational
periodicals and the most improved works on the
art of teaching, etc;
◊ Bringing teachers together in centres throughout
the country at regular intervals;
12
MANDATE OF THE EARLY EDUCATION
(TEACHERS) ASSOCIATION (CONT’D)
◊ Promote discussions on problems of the
classrooms;
◊ Fostering of occupational awareness.
13
LIMITATIONS OF THE EARLY
ASSOSICATIONS
♦
They were usually dominated by churchmen
who had their own occupational concerns;
♦
Churchmen were usually the operators of the
schools and the employers of the teachers;
♦
There were usually conflicts within these
parish-based organizations as membership
cut across denominational lines.
14
THE JAMAICAN UNION OF TEACHERS
▪
The Jamaican Union of Teachers (JUT)
came into existence on March 30, 1894;
▪
The JUT was therefore the first trade
union organization to be established;
▪
The JUT was dominated by Headmasters/
Headmistresses of Primary (Elementary)
Schools;
15
THE JAMAICAN UNION OF TEACHERS (CONT’D)
▪
Most of these Head Teachers were in fact
clergymen (Missionaries) assisted by
their spouses (wives).
▪
Many of these schools were small
(attached to
the
vestries
of
the
churches). There were 962 registered
schools in 1894/5.
16
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE FORMATION OF THE
JAMAICA UNION OF TEACHERS (JUT)
The 1886 Report of Education Commission
stirred a vigorous debate in Jamaica. The
Report recommended (inter alia) that the state
should:
subsidize teachers’ housing;
 institute a scheme of superannuation;
 assume full financial responsibility for
elementary education;
17
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE FORMATION OF THE
JUT (CONT’D)
 school attendance be made compulsory;
 establishment of a central Board of
Education;
 an education tax be raised to pay for
these reforms.
18
PASSAGE OF THE ELEMENTARY AND
SECONDARY EDUCATON LAWS - 1892
The various teachers organizations had very little
input in the passage of these pieces of legislation
which were not in their favour;
The Jamaica Exhibition held in Kingston - 1891
 This exhibition made an impression on the
legislators, planters, churchmen and
teachers that there was great advantages to
be gained from technical and agricultural
education;
19
PASSAGE OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATON LAWS – 1892 (CONT’D)
♦
The Exhibition added a new dimension to
the debate – the country needed technical
and agricultural education if it was to
progress. The new demand was that
these subjects be added to the
curriculum;
-
The new Education Law failed to
address the interest of teachers, viz:
20
PASSAGE OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATON LAWS – 1892 (CONT’D)
 the position of the teacher, vis a vis his
immediate employer, the school manager,
remained unchanged;
 the teacher could expect little protection
in his work;
 his salary continued to be dependent on
his results’ achieved at the end of the
year as determined by the Inspector
who would examine the pupils;
21
PASSAGE OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATON LAWS – 1892 (CONT’D)
♦
no provision for a pension was provided in
the 1892 law;
♦ the recommendation for free education was
adopted but the teachers’ recommendation
for compulsion of attendance was omitted.
This was to have an effect on teachers
salaries;
♦ the law strengthened the position of the
church in education by retaining ownership
and control of the schools in the church
while publicly funding education;
22
PASSAGE OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATION LAWS – 1892 (CONT’D)

the Central Board of Education established
under the law, had no teacher representative
while the various denominations enjoyed direct
representations;
 the churches were the only groups recognized
by the state as authority on education;
 Governor Blake’s attack on the elementary
school teachers as being ‘incompetent’ based
on the Report of the Superintending Inspector of
Schools (1891) that of the 850 head teachers in
the country receiving grants-in-aid only 115 were
of the first of the 5 grades into which the
teachers were classed.
23
PASSAGE OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATION LAWS – 1892 (CONT’D)
♦ At a meeting at Rock River, Clarendon, a
number of teachers expressed their bitterness at
the Governor’s remarks. Many letters were sent
in the Gleaner by teachers protesting Blake’s
remarks and calling on all teachers to write, so
as:
“to ventilate our opinions on the
educational questions of the day. If we
do not speak now, then it may be justly
said of us that we are a body of
incompetent men.”
24
PASSAGE OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATION LAWS – 1892 (CONT’D)
(Daily Gleaner, (23 March 1892), p.3)
 A prominent member of the KTA Major
Plant, placed an advertisement in the
Gleaner encouraging teachers to send
their views to the KTA so that they could
be more coherently and systematically
expressed and channeled to the
appropriate authorities.
25
THE IMPACT OF THE JAMAICA UNION OF
TEACHERS
• Although it was Major Plant of the KTA who
first advocated a unity of the various
teachers associations, the leadership
initiative was seized by J.A.Mason and W.F.
Bailey of the Manchester Teachers’
Association;
• A circular was dispatched to 100 teachers
inviting them to a “Teachers’ Convention” in
Spanish Town, Friday, March 30, 1894;
26
THE IMPACT OF THE JAMAICA UNION OF
TEACHERS (CONT’D)
• The meeting adopted the resolution creating
the Jamaica Union of Teachers (JUT);
• The JUT was modeled on that of the British
National Union of Teachers;
• Within the first 5 years membership was 1733
teachers; (most of the 912 elementary
schools had 1 teacher);
27
THE IMPACT OF THE JAMAICA UNION OF
TEACHERS (CONT’D)
• All elementary schools were represented;
• All parishes constituted Associations. The
original parish Teachers Associations became
subsumed under the umbrella of the JUT.
28
THE JUT AND POLITICS
• In 1866, Jamaica became a crown colony. That is, it
was governed directly from Britain by a Governor
chosen by the Colonial Office, and accountable to it
for the governance of Jamaica;
• There was a Legislature Council nominated solely by
the Governor and advised by a local Privy Council;
• In 1884, a measure of representation was
reintroduced. Nine (9) elected members were
allowed in the Legislative Council on a restricted
(land tenure) franchise;
29
THE JUT AND POLITICS (CONT’D)
• In 1895, the number of elected members was
increased to 14. From this point onward, there were
always three (3) elected JUT members of the
Legislative Council;
• The JUT had a voice consistently in matters affecting
education but this was balanced by the influence of
the church;
• The leaders of the Union continued to cultivate a
good relation with the church and bishops of the
many denominations were among its rank and file
and clergymen were members of the Union.
30
THE JUT AND THE WIDER UNION MOVEMENT
• There was not much of an alliance between the
Union and other local “trade unions” before the
1930’s. The JUT was however affiliated with the
British National Union of Teacher in 1926 and later
was a founding member of the Caribbean Union of
Teachers (founded August 1935);
• Officials of the JUT met on occasions with the
leadership of the Longshoremen’s Union on issues
relating to legal recognition of Trade Unions. The
lobby by both bore fruit in the 1919 Trade Union
Ordinance (Law 37 of 1919);
31
THE JUT AND THE WIDER UNION MOVEMENT
(CONT’D)
• Even before the labour riots of 1938 the leadership of
the JUT sought to organize peasants in numeracy
and literacy classes and worked through the
JAMAICA AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY to improve the
welfare of the peasants and labourers.
• The Executive of the Union made submissions
before the Moyne Commission which visited
Jamaica in 1939 following the labour riots.
32
THE JUT AND THE WIDER UNION MOVEMENT
(CONT’D)
In his submission before the Commission, H.E. Allan
(who was to become the first Minister of Finance after
the 1944 elections) raised the issue of low educational
standards, compulsory attendance and the inability of
the children of the peasantry to attend school regularly.
▪ The JUT passed a resolution welcoming the
formation of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union
(BITU) (registered January 23, 1939) and hailed the
efforts of Alexander Bustamante in lobbying for
33
THE JUT AND THE WIDER UNION MOVEMENT
(CONT’D)
increased wages and benefits for the sugar workers
claiming: “…these benefits will redound to the
betterment of the children in our schools…”
▪ Members of the Executive were active in the
establishment of the People’s National Party (PNP) in
September, 1938. This was simply the continuation
of the JUT’s tradition of maintaining links with the
influential bodies e.g., The Jamaican Progressive
League; the P.E.N. Club, etc.;
34
THE JUT AND THE WIDER UNION MOVEMENT
(CONT’D)
• The formation of the Trade Union Congress (TUC)
(22 July 1949 ); and the National Workers Union
(NWU) (October 17, 1952); witnessed the growing
strength of the labour movement and a greater level
of interaction between the Unions;
• Union – Party affiliation grew as the political parties
used the Unions to mobilize support among the new
electorate;
• There were signs, however, that the membership of
the JUT was split over the issue of the JUT as a
35
THE JUT AND THE WIDER UNION MOVEMENT
(CONT’D)
trade union or as a professional organization – as
greater use of the strike tool to enforce demands
was employed by the labour unions;
▪ Between the 1940’s and early 1960’s the JUT
increasingly distanced itself from the strike as a
means to extort benefits for teachers;
▪ There was no central body of Trade Unions – e.g.
Trades Union Congress of Great Britain or the
36
THE JUT AND THE WIDER UNION MOVEMENT
(CONT’D)
American AFL-C10. This gave rise to a considerable
amount of rivalry in certain sectors of economic
activity and consequent claims for bargaining rights.
▪ Even among teachers, four (4) additional unions
emerged during the 1950’s and 60’s, viz:
-
Association of Assistant Masters and Mistresses
representing teachers in the traditional grammar
schools;
37
THE JUT AND THE WIDER UNION MOVEMENT
(CONT’D)
• Association of Head Masters and Head Mistresses;
• Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions;
• Association of Teacher Training Staffs
These Unions reflected the division in the teaching
Fraternity and made the settlement of wage claims
extremely difficult.
38
ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE LABOUR UNIONS
• Joint action was taken in a number of areas:
Joint Industrial Council (for various industries
e.g. sugar, building, etc);
▪ The formation of the Jamaica Employers’ Federation
(JEF) on May 10, 1957 not only reflects the
effectiveness of labour unions, but also sends a
sharp message to the unions of the need to organize
under a single umbrella;
39
ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE LABOUR UNIONS
(CONT’D)
• The chance came in the 1980’s when faced with
government cutbacks and lay-offs, the Joint Trade Union
Research and Development Centre (JTURDC) was
created; later it became the Jamaica Confederation of
Trade Unions (JCTU). The JTA joined in 1994.
• The Teachers Union led the way. In 1964, seven decades
after the formation of the JUT, the Jamaica Teachers’
Association (JTA) was the product of the merger of the
five (5) teachers unions. This merger came about when a
resolution creating an interim Joint Executive of
Teachers’ Associations (JETA) was established to work
out all the legal and organizational issues involved in the
creation of a single teachers union.
40
ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE LABOUR UNIONS
(CONT’D)
.
In 1959 during the Presidency of the indomitable Edith
Dalton-James, the Joint Executive of Teachers’
Association was formed to spearhead the unification
process.
.
Teachers had more common interests uniting them than
the sectional interests their groups represented. The
national concerns also dictated unity. And just as in the
1890s when the 15 Teachers’ Associations coalesced to
form the JUT in the face of perceived threats posed by
the Elementary and Secondary Education Laws, so in the
1960’s that teachers, in response to a common threat,
found renewed strength in their unity. Sectional interests
gave way to the greater common cause.
41
ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE LABOUR UNIONS
(CONT’D
.
In November 1963, the Joint Executive of Teachers’
Associations gave way to the new National Executive of
the Jamaica Teachers’ Association.
42
ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE LABOUR UNIONS
(CONT’D)
The Jamaica Teachers’ Association representing 85%
of the teachers in the public sector from Infant School
to University, now stands proud as a symbol of unity
and strength.
Long live the JTA!
43
APPENDICES
1. Average Annual Expenditure of 5 year periods:
£
1862 – 1866
3700
1867 – 1871
7200
1872 – 1876
19300
1877 – 1881
23000
44
APPENDICES (CONT’D)
2. Result of School Examination:
Year
Able to Read
and Write
Able to Read
Only
1861
50,726
68,333
119,059
1871
71,076
81,398
152,472
1881
115,418
115,268
231,268
Total
45
APPENDICES (CONT’D)
3. School Attendance and Expenditure on Education;
No. of
Schools
No. of
Pupils on
books
No. of
Pupils in
Avg.
Attendance
Cost per
Pupil in Avg.
Attendance
Population
913
92,135
52,983
3.94
639,491
Percentage
of Revenue
on Primary
Education
6.0
46
THANK YOU!
47