Latest update November 5th, 2024 1:00 AM
Ministry in discussion, not negotiation with GTU – says Minister
—not committed to 40 per cent increase for teachers
While the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) is convinced that it has long started a process of negotiation with
Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine
the Ministry of Education for a new multi-year remuneration package for public school teachers, Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, yesterday informed otherwise.
The Minister in response to a question posed by this publication said, “I wouldn’t call that negotiations…I have been having some discussions with (GTU President) Mark Lyte and people in the Union and I’m hoping whatever difficulties they have we can resolve them; I think we can.”
Insisting that no negotiations have started, the Minister added, “We haven’t really reached the stage of negotiations in the sense that, they bring their documents and we address their documents…that is going to be a higher stage of the conversation.”
He, however, admitted that the discussions with the Union have thus far yielded a commitment on the part of Government to pay teachers the debunching money that the Union had long been advocating for.
The Union had previously inked an agreement with the previous administration which had agreed to pay the debunching money to teachers.
During the lead up to the May 11, 2015 National and Regional Elections, the previous Government, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, had reneged on its commitment. But according to Minister Roopnaraine yesterday, “We are looking at the debunching right now…we have to honour whatever commitments the Government entered into with the teachers’ Union and right now I know they are looking at the whole debunching issue.”
Teachers, under the debunching scheme, will be eligible for one per cent of their salaries for each year.
“The Union and the Ministry have agreed to have the payout of one per cent of all teachers’ salaries beginning from 2011 to 2015…this means that for each month they will get one per cent of whatever salary they are receiving in that year,” the GTU President had told this publication. Based on the agreement the teachers should be paid their debunching money by the end of this school term.
But apart from continuing its appeal for the payment of the debunching money, the Union is negotiating for a 40 per cent across the board increase in salary for teachers. It is also hoping for a 45 per cent increase for next year (2017) and 50 per cent for the following three years (2018-2020) for all categories of teachers.
In a proposal seen by this publication, the Union has taken into consideration inflation and made it clear that “should there be inflation higher than the percentage agreed upon, then the teachers/teacher-educators must get the benefit of the difference.”
However, when asked whether the GTU-proposed 40 per cent increase across the board increase for public school teachers this year would be feasible, Dr. Roopnaraine would only say, “frankly I would like to give the teachers even more but you know we have teachers to deal with, we have nurses to deal with…if you begin to raise the salaries of teachers in the classroom, the nurses are going to say what about us?”
He qualified his remarks by adding, “I sit right next to the Minister of (Public) Health in Cabinet.” The Minister, however, added too that “I do believe that we need to look at the whole issue of what we’re paying the public servants.”
The Union in its proposal is advocating for an additional performance-based incentive of three per cent per annum, of the total teachers’ wage bill and expects that this will be paid to eligible teachers with effect from January 1, 2016, once the multi-year agreement it is proposing, is accepted and approved.
If the agreement under consideration is approved, teachers will also benefit from a monthly emotional/stress/risk allowance of $5,000, and all teachers who received duty free concessions will be granted a maintenance allowance of $7,000 monthly for their vehicles including cars, motorcycles and boats.
Further, the GTU is proposing that all teachers who are owners of motor vehicles be granted mileage when they are invited to meetings or to meet with officials at the Ministry of Education, and when they are required to attend Teaching Practice sessions organized by the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).
If the Union’s proposal is approved, teachers will also be eligible for double salaries in December each year, scholarships and other non-salary issues.
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