Teachers below poverty line, says union head

SantoDomingo.- The president of the Dominican Teachers’ Association (ADP) EduardoHidalgo, says that the general secretary of the ruling PLD party should call ameeting of his members who are Ministry of Education officials so they canexplain the distribution of the 2013 budget.

He saidthat minister Josefina Pimentel and other education ministry officials neededto explain to their party how an additional budget of RD$47 billion had been distributed without taking into account the fact that more than 28,000 teachers (almost half of the ADP’s membership) were living below the poverty line because they earn salaries without incentives thatrange from RD$9,872 to RD$15,830 for each shift while the basic familyeconomic basket is now over RD$23,800, according to the Central Bank

He addedthat there had been a consensus among all the members of the party’s NationalExecutive Committee (CEN) to fight for a dignified salary for the teachers,totaling RD$13,500 per shift, without including the degree or the otherthree incentives, which contradicts the claim that political sectors with a majorityof teachers had prevented an agreement between the ADP and the EducationMinistry. Hidalgo himself is a member of the PLD.