Teachers’ leaders ask Medina to step in

Santo Domingo.- Former leaders ofthe ADP teachers’ union want president Danilo Medina to help find a solution tothe conflict between the union and the Ministry of Education in demand for asalary increase.

Rafael Santos, Eduardo Cuello,Olimpia González and Enrique de León said that unless an agreement was reachedover the Easter break, teachers’ strikes could resume next Monday, putting theschool year at risk. They said that conflicts of this kind had always endedwith the president’s intervention and this would be no exception.

The teachers said it was not anattempt to undermine Minister Josefina Pimentel’s authority, but they believethat all other options had been exhausted.

The Ministry of Education saidyesterday that it had paid the teachers with the 20 percent increase to thebase salary that was rejected by the ADP teachers’ union.

The teachers also received theincentives with the increase that had been announced by the ministry. In thenext few days they would receive retroactive payments dating back fromFebruary, as promised.

The ministry’s offer consisted ofa base salary of RD$7,200 per month, with the commitment that no teacher wouldearn less than RD$15,000 once incentives were applied. The union was asking fora base salary of RD$7,700.