How he responds will define his presidency as well as have consequences for the national economy and much else - not least being the place to be occupied by teachers in the Jamaican society and, ultimately, the quality of education in the country.

The issue at hand for Mr Stewart is, of course, the dispute between the JTA and the Government over $8 billion in back pay owed to teachers for the 2007/2008 fiscal year because of a regrading of their jobs.

The move, ostensibly, was to bring the wages of teachers in closer alignment with salaries in the private sector. But at the time of its proposed implementation, as a hold over from the previous administration, this newspaper told Finance Minister Audley Shaw that his action seemed precipitous.

Not affordable

We were concerned that teachers were not being asked for anything in exchange for the salary increase - neither in additional effort nor, preferably, the linking of pay to outcomes in the classrooms. But more critically, we did not believe that a salary hike of the magnitude that was being undertaken by the Government was affordable.

To have been proven correct that the undertaking was unaffordable was not prescient, for the difficulties with the government finances, of which Mr Shaw should have been aware, were notorious and have only been exacerbated by the global recession. The fact, though, is that we are where we are: an economy that is likely to decline by four per cent this year, a public-sector deficit running at over seven per cent of GDP, an imminent agreement with the International Monetary Fund, and rating downgrade by Standard and Poor's and warning by others of the country's fiscal vulnerabilities.

It is against that backdrop that the Government has told public-sector employees that a seven per cent wage hike that was due this year can't be paid, lest the wage bill, at $126 billion or 11 per cent of GDP, is allowed to go further out of whack.

Ought to know better

However, some teachers, including many in leadership roles and who ought to know better, are insistent on being paid. Andrew Holness, the education minister, is now promising to clear the debt over three fiscal years, starting in 2011.

Mr Stewart, the pressures from the calcified bunch notwithstanding, must assert his leadership and meet with Holness more than halfway. He must be aware that the administration has little or no fiscal room within which to manoeuvre, however much the old crowd threatens to make the new school year "a September to remember".

Which is where creative thinking by the administration may be useful. The Government has good assets which, in the existing circumstances, it should urgently divest.

We suggest that these be urgently identified, priced, packaged and brought to market, with initial blocks of the IPO allocated to private and public sector employees in exchange for back payments.

It is a concept that we commend to Mr Stewart, which he should embrace as his own. Otherwise, the JTA might find itself in a fight for all of nothing.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.