From left: JTA President Michael Stewart, President-elect Nadine Molloy and immediate past President Doran Dixon at yesterday's meeting of the General Council. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

The bitter dispute involving public school teachers and the Government over the $8-billion salary arrears is finally over.

The General Council of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) yesterday voted to accept the Government's latest payments schedule for the arrears over the 2007-2008 period.

Under the payment plan, the teachers are to get $2 billion in May 2010 and a further $2 billion in July of the same year.

more payments in 2012

The Government has promised to pay the teachers a further $2.5 billion in June 2011 with the final payment of $1.5 billion in April 2012.

In accepting the payment plan yesterday, the General Council of the JTA warned that it expects the Government to strictly comply with this schedule.

"The association will not countenance any variation from it," the teachers threatened. The JTA also warned the Government that the payment schedule would not impact on any future salary claims to be made on behalf of the teachers.

The Government and the JTA have been involved in a long-running battle over the payment of the $8 billion arrears which resulted from a reclassification exercise that moved the salaries of teachers to 80 per cent of market.

no money to pay

Initially, the Government had promised that the arrears would be paid this year but with the fall-off in revenue linked to the global economic crisis, the Bruce Golding administration told the teachers that it did not have the money to pay them.

This angered the teachers who warned of possible disruption at the start of the 2009-2010 school year if a satisfactory offer was not placed on the table.

Following the intervention of the Ministry of Labour, the parties returned to the bargaining table and emerged from a September 7 meeting indicating that they were closer to a deal.

They are scheduled to meet again at the labour ministry on Tuesday when the JTA is expected to formally indicate its decision to accept the Government's payment plan.