President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu, says the striking teacher unions will not succumb to pressure to return to the classrooms.
He stated that the teacher unions intend to strike until the government pays them the 20% cost of living allowance.
“If they go to court to get an injunction, we will organize, go to court, and set that injunction aside. When you go to court ex-parte, you have not given the opportunity for the judge to listen to the other group. This time, if they go to court ex-parte, we will ask our legal people the next day to go to court to set that ex-parte injunction aside,” he said.
On Wednesday, July 6, 2022, NAGRAT and three other teacher unions currently on strike met with the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations and other stakeholders to discuss their demands for a 20 percent COLA.
“They indicated that they will be inviting us [soon]. We told them if they invite us, we will be there but for now, the strike continues,” he said on Citi FM.
The allowance according to the teachers will cushion them from current economic conditions and the worsening plight of teachers.
The National Labour Commission in a statement urged the teachers to rescind their decision to make way for negotiations.