GTU President highlights highs and lows of 2015

Dec 23, 2015 News

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– to face court battle in 2016 for review of TSC promotions list

Disregarding an appeal by the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) to have the 2015 teachers’ promotion list reviewed, the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) has taken an executive decision to have the judicial system deal with the matter.

GTU had earlier this year filed an injunction in the quest to have both the TSC and the School Boards Secretariat halt their plans to release their final promotion lists. While the School Boards Secretariat – which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Education – decided to give in to the appeal of the GTU, the TSC following a recent meeting decided this isn’t the way to go.
The TSC is prepared to contest the GTU’s appeal. Moreover the matter is slated to be called in the High Court on January 7, 2016.
Chairperson of the TSC, Ms. Leila Ramson, had intimated as much to this publication.
“I don’t think it would be feasible to review thousands of applications,” Ramson disclosed when asked to comment on the status of a court action brought against the TSC by the GTU regarding the promotion of public school teachers.
Ramson had noted that, “I doubt we will change our minds about a review…it is easy for the Ministry to change its mind, because the Ministry only has to process a few applications. We (TSC) deal with 4,000 to 5,000 applications per year, so it is not easy to just have a do-over…it is a lot of work you are talking about here.”
According to Ramson, the TSC had made the proposal to take into consideration the concerns of the GTU when it undertakes the processing of applications for teachers’ promotions next year.
The GTU was however not having this. The Union had taken the decision to file an injunction to halt the release of the final 2015 teachers’ promotion list by both the TSC and the School Boards Secretariat, which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Education.
GTU, which premised its decision on concerns that the promoting bodies have for years been deviating from written rules and regulations that govern teachers’ promotions, is calling for a complete review of the applications this year.
However, while the Ministry of Education has surrendered to the demands of the GTU even without a ruling from the court, the TSC has been unrelenting.
The promotion controversy was only one of the challenges faced by the GTU during the course of this year.
According to its President, Mark Lyte, the GTU was forced to express its dissatisfaction with the non-payment of debunching monies and the stalled processing of duty free concessions for teachers. The debunching issues had even caused the GTU to initiate industrial action. But recent discussions with Government have from all indications paved the way for both issues to be addressed.
“We were successful in engaging the Ministry of Education on the way forward regarding debunching, so we believe that we have gone a step closer to agreeing on a position,” said Lyte even as he added that “we successfully negotiated for retired teachers to get duty free concessions. Most of them have been waiting since 2009….”
“But we have had issues with the slow pace at which the duty free concessions are granted and we are asking for the personnel department of the Ministry of Education to act swifter with awarding those concessions,” said Lyte.
While the debunching monies will affect all teachers, a total of about 46 teachers are expected to soon be able to benefit from the duty free concession. These teachers, according to Lyte, would have become eligible between the period 2009 and 2013.
“The debunching has been a challenge and a tough fight for the GTU…for 2015 we have gone back and forth…but things seem to be changing,” said Lyte.
Meanwhile, Lyte said that the GTU has commenced negotiations with Government to further agreements regarding teachers’ remuneration and other benefits. The standing agreement the GTU has with Government is slated to come to an end this month.
While the GTU has been able to make headway in a number of areas in its representation of teachers this year, Lyte is saddened that there were some shortcomings that were not remedied.
Based on a multi-year agreement the Union was able to forge with the past Government, statutory meetings should have been held with Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, and identified members of the Education Ministry. But according to Lyte, “we have not had regular meetings as agreed upon.” These meetings could have helped to ensure that there were close collaborations between the Ministry and the Union that could have prevented a number of challenges faced this year.
Another issue of concern that resulted from a breakdown of communication, Lyte informed was the challenge associated with the release of teachers to attend the University of Guyana. And according to the GTU President, this challenge was particularly observed among those who were given scholarships through the Union’s negotiation with the Ministry of Education.
“We find that some teachers who have scholarships are still not getting released to attend University and this is a Government of Guyana scholarship…,” said Lyte who has expressed optimism that the New Year would yield less challenging situations.

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