by Curlan Campbell
- Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell promised to make amends to teachers
- Salaries of teachers involved in GUT protest action docked in November 2018
- Teachers remained home for nearly 2 weeks in protest of a 2% gratuity payment
Moments after being sworn in as Minister for Finance, Minister for National Security and Home Affairs, Public Administration, Information and Disaster Management, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell promised to make amends to the teachers of the nation by promising to repay their salaries that were docked by the previous administration.
Former Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell took this action back in November 2018 to dock the salaries of those teachers who were involved in protest action prompted by the Grenada Union of Teachers (GUT). This protest action saw teachers remaining home for nearly 2 weeks in protest of a 2% gratuity payment offered by the then NNP administration.
The deductions come a day after both public-sector unions and the government negotiating team renewed talks on the issue of gratuity which by all indications was reported to be cordial. A joint release calling off the strike and signalling resumption of negotiations made no mention of cutting workers’ November salary.
The announcement by Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell was received with applause from the crowd gathered to witness the swearing-in ceremony and ministerial appointments of new cabinet ministers at the Kirani James Athletic Stadium on Thursday, 30 June. “As a sign of our commitment that peace prevails, that in my capacity as Minister of Finance and subject to the blessing which I will receive from my cabinet colleagues and particularly the new Minister of Education, we will instruct the Ministry of Finance to repay to the teachers, the teachers of Petite Martinique, Carriacou and Grenada, the salaries that were docked unjustly from them and that those payments should be made as early as the end of July 2022,” he said.
The ministerial appointments follow:
- Joseph Andall – Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Export Development
- Tevin Andrews – Minister for Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs and Local Government
- Dennis Cornwall – Minister for Infrastructure, Physical Development, Public Utilities, Civil Aviation and Transportation
- Ron Livingston Redhead – Minister of State with responsibility for Youth and Sports within the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports
- Kerryne James – Minister for Climate Resilience, the Environment and Renewable Energy
- Philip Alfred Telesford – Minister for Social and Community Development, Housing and Gender Affairs
- Andy Williams – Minister for Mobilisation Implementation and Transformation
- Lennox John Andrews – Minister for Economic Development, Tourism and ICT
- David Andrew – Minister for Education, Youth and Sport
- Adrian Thomas – Minister of State with responsibility for Agriculture, Fisheries and Cooperatives
- Gayton Jonathan La Crette – Minister for Health, Wellness and Religious Affairs
- Claudette Joseph – Attorney General, Minister of Legal Affairs, Labour and Consumer Affairs
- Gloria Ann Thomas- Minister of State with responsibility for Social Development and Gender Affairs
- Quinc Britton – Senator in the Parliament of Grenada
