Our main concern is the 30 percent pay rise for teachers.
Fiji Teachers Union General Secretary, Muniappa Goundar stated this to fijivillage News saying unfortunately that did not come about as their meeting last Friday with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad at Ro Lalabalavu House was a stalemate.
Goundar says their teachers have not had a pay rise in 17 years while the parliamentarians have only been in office for one and a half years and have had a huge pay rise
He says everybody is equal before the law whether it be the teachers, parliamentarians, cashiers or journalists, so if they can get a raise why can’t the teachers get one too.
The General Secretary says he would also like to correct the Deputy Prime Minister in that he did not say they were going to have a strike.
He says since their meeting did not come to an amicable end, they are going to continue with the processes.
He states that he believes the Minister must understand there is a process that needs to be followed before they go on strike.
Goundar says they will decide on strike action after 51 percent or more of their members vote for strike.
The General Secretary says they have to look at their teachers and their children too.
He says for the Minister to say that the Fijian Teachers Association submission was thoughtful is not making sense because they went as a group.
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