The Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Dr George Smith-Graham, has indicated that negotiations with striking teacher unions have stalled because the unions are seeking the introduction of a new allowance, which he says falls outside the current transitional framework for reviewing conditions of service.
Dr Smith-Graham said the FWSC’s transitional arrangement allows unions whose conditions of service have expired to identify and improve existing allowances, rather than undertake comprehensive negotiations on their conditions of service.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, Dr Smith-Graham said: “The transitional arrangement is that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is in transition, and so within this transitional arrangement there should be no holistic negotiations on conditions of service.”
“They are supposed to be identifying allowances within the unions whose conditions of service have expired and enhance them, but they are looking at it differently. They want even an introduction of a new allowance, and that is what we are discussing.”
The comments come as pre-tertiary teacher unions continue their strike over concerns about their conditions of service, following negotiations with the FWSC that ended without an agreement.
The Commission, he added, was nevertheless willing to continue engaging the unions to find common ground.
He said the unions had been given a mandate by their members to pursue their demands, making it necessary for the FWSC to engage them despite differences over the scope of the negotiations.
“It’s a mandate the rank and file has given to them so we have no choice but to engage them and let them know that this is the situation,” he said.
Dr Smith-Graham also rejected claims that the FWSC entered the negotiations without the necessary mandate from the Finance Minister.
“Absolutely not,” he said, insisting that he had been given a mandate by the Finance Minister since January.
He said the Commission had successfully negotiated with 59 unions and organisations this year, with many of those engagements being concluded within a few hours.
Asked why negotiations with the teacher unions had proved more difficult, Dr Smith-Graham attributed the impasse to their demand to move beyond the transitional arrangement.
“It is a struggle because maybe, to put it bluntly, they are trying to go out from the transitional arrangement that we have. That is what is bringing about the change,” he said.
The FWSC CEO said negotiations would continue, with the Commission hoping to conclude the process by the end of the week.
“I want to finish this negotiation before the end of the week,” he said.
Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
