The Turnbull administration’s plan to combine public school teachers’ one-time payment with their regular paycheck means they will actually see less money than what they agreed to in December, according to Sen. Adelbert Bryan.
In a letter Monday to Karen Andrews, Turnbull’s chief negotiator, and Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds, Bryan said the administration was acting in "bad faith" by mixing the one-time payment, which ranges from $1,500 to $2,000, with teachers’ next paycheck.
The lump-sum payment was agreed to by members of the American Federation of Teachers on St. Croix and St. Thomas in December as part of a larger contract agreement following a three-week strike.
"The one-time payment will be reflected in the employees' checks on Jan. 25, 2001 pay day" and is therefore a breach in the terms of the agreement, which calls for a separate check, Bryan said. He also admonished labor union leaders for making misrepresentations to the membership.
Hortense Milligan-Rowe, Bryan’s chief of staff, said combining the two sums would actually mean less money because the increase would push employees into a higher income bracket.
"When you add whatever is due to their regular pay, that is putting them into a tax category that will require more taxes taken out. With two separate transactions, the disposal income would be greater," Milligan-Rowe said. "That’s why they specifically separated the payment — to avoid that."
Andrews didn’t immediately return calls on Tuesday, nor did St. Croix AFT President Tyrone Molyneaux. But Milligan-Rowe said Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull told her that the department’s paycheck software is unable to generate separate checks.
The wage agreement approved by union members in December was virtually the same as one rejected in October. But in the approved version, the government upped the amount of money provided to union members in exchange for forfeiting rights to negotiate salary increases for the five previous school years.
According to the agreement, school employees with one to two years of experience will be paid $1,500; those with three to four years' service will receive $1,750; and five years or more experience will lead to a $2,000 lump sum payment. The payments are funded by the $2.4 million savings the government realized during the 18-day teachers strike.
Bryan, meanwhile, recommended that the administration issue separate checks instead of combining the payment.
