THIS DAY IN OUR PAST

The following events took place on May 24 in the years identified:

1978:The secretary general of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, Fay Saunders, says that inadequate salary is one of the main reasons for the shortage of male teachers in Jamaica, and this shortage is proving to be one of the gravest problems faced by the educational system. She tells the Board of Enquiry being held at the Ministry of Labour, Kingston, investigating the dispute between the Government and the teachers over wage claims that the conditions of service, such as the very demanding nature of the job and the lack of greater opportunities for promotion, are other reasons why men did not become teachers or did not stay very long in the classroom. 1987:Joint Members of the

Trade Union Research Development Centre (JTURDC) is urged not to be solely concerned with protecting the interests of their members, but to strive for conditions which would help to provide employment for those who are unemployed, as “unless we try to lift each other, we’ll never be able to lift ourselves”. Making this entreaty is Gordon Cowans in his sermon at the special service to mark the launching of Trade Union Week at the St Andrew Scots Kirk on Duke Street, Kingston. The service is attended by senior executives and other members of the major trade unions in Jamaica. Taking his theme from Galatians 6:2 and 5 Cowans, who is pastor of Scots Kirk, says that while it may appear that the two verses contradict each other, on closer examination they show that there is no such thing as total independence or total self-reliance. In the extreme sense life, he says, is a tension between dependence and independence, self-reliance and co-operation and as a nation, Jamaica has yet to realise this. “We must be prepared to depend on others and cooperate with others if we are to accomplish for the common good,” he says.

– The Gleaner Archives