Another promise to the teachers

Nov 01, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
Teachers have been informed that the two-day strike action, planned for later this week, is on hold, following the promise of a High -Level Task Force being established, after a meeting between President David Granger and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU).
The question now is, can we trust this promise? A similar promise was made by the President when the notion that he may reject the third list of GECOM nominees was being contemplated.
On the first question, if a high-level task force is established, as promised, actionable measures must not be delayed and teachers must receive what the Union has been advocating for.
The second question is whether there is an attempt to divide the GTU. Neither the GTU President, nor the GTU General Secretary was present at the meeting from the report on the meeting with the President. Moreover, the joint-statement released after the meeting was signed by Education Minister, Nicolette Henry, and Ms. Lesmeine Collins, First Vice President, Guyana Teachers Union.
On the second question, after last week’s meeting between the Union and the Ministry, what we saw from the APNU/AFC government, since then, is a blatant attempt to divide the Union.
The government’s Department of Information, on its Facebook page, told the Guyanese people that the Union “walked out of a meeting with the Ministry of Education, which was intended to address a number of issues, chief among them the Proposed Multi-Year agreement (2016 to 2020).”
It also said that the GTU President, Mr. Mark Lyte, decided that the meeting should not continue and together with his colleagues left the boardroom, leading to a premature end of the discourse. The Department of Information said, “According to the Ministry, noteworthy, is that while the GTU President stood up to truncate the meeting, all other members of the union remained seated, including the General Secretary Coretta McDonald. She suggested to Lyte that he sign the non-financial aspect of the agreement but those pleas went.”
The government’s Department of Information is exposed by none other than McDonald herself, who has publicly said that, “Today at this meeting, our expectation was to listen to the counter proposal and start the discussions. However this didn’t happen.
“A projector was in motion to take us through a power point presentation on the non-salaries issues. It was at this point that the President of the GTU, Bro Mark Lyte decided this is too much and indicated to the Minister that, ‘It seems as if we are wasting time here, these issues have nothing to do with the salaries offer’, stood up and a signaled to his Team, that it was time to leave.
“Let me make it clear, at no point did I, Coretta Ann McDonald, A.A or any of my colleagues attempt to persuade the President of the GTU, Bro Mark Lyte to sign any aspect of the proposal. Colleagues, we recognise that there are persons out there who are bent on causing discord with the Union.”
The President of the GTU, Mr. Lyte, has communicated to the Ministry that the Union is presently concerned with the financial aspect of the proposal regarding salary increases, debunching, allowances and duty-free concessions.
This must be addressed by the APNU/AFC government, which promised better for teachers.
For your consideration,
Brian A Azore

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