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It would be like shooting itself in the foot

Aug 11, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Which of the two parties – the Guyana Teachers’ Union or the Government of Guyana – is more confused is hard to tell. But it surely is not amusing to those teachers who have been waiting since 2015 for the conclusion of a multi-year wages agreement between the government and their union.
The problem reached a head last year when the government arbitrarily announced that teachers would receive the same increases as public servants. This was after the teachers’ union failed to reach any sort of agreement in its negotiations with the government.
The timing of the breakdown of those negotiations could not have been more favourable to the union. Schools were preparing for final term examinations and a strike by teachers would have disrupted those examinations.
The government tried to placate the union, but this did not work. An ultimatum was served, and it took the President of Guyana to intervene and to meet with the union.
The meeting between the union and the President took place towards the end of October, and a joint statement between the two sides reported that agreement had been reached to set up a high-level task force to look at improving the education sector, and to take account of the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the education sector.
The joint statement specifically mentioned that the task force to be established would be high level, and would comprise representatives of the Ministries of Education, Finance, Communities, Public Service and the Presidency.
The Ministry of Finance was supposed to be represented on the task force, and at a high level, since it was a high-level task force. The report of the committee was reportedly completed in February and tabled before Cabinet.
Nothing more was heard until the teachers began to grumble. It was then said that the matter was with the Minister of Finance. Then things took a turn for the worse, when it was made known that government had rejected 22 of the 27 demands made by the teachers.
This is where the confusion comes in. It was quite natural for Cabinet to have sought the input of the Minister of Finance into the report of the task force. He is, after all, the country’s paymaster and therefore, procedurally, he needs to be allowed to make an input.
But since the Ministry of Finance was part – or was supposed to be a part – of the high-level task force, this would mean that the Ministry was rejecting the report which its high-level representative on the task force had agreed to, presuming that the report enjoyed the consensus of the entirety of the task force.
It is hard to understand how the government – and surprisingly the union – now wants to go back to the negotiating table. The task force was the negotiating table between the union and the government. It was a broad-based task force, since it supposedly had to consider, also, the findings of the COI into the education sector.
Now if the report of the task force enjoyed the support of both the government and the union side, then it is a done deal. The Cabinet, since it would have been part of the task force, has no other option but to agree to the report. The government is not expected to disagree with its own representatives.
If there was consensus within the task force and the government is annulling the recommendations agreed upon, then the union has no option but to strike.
On the other hand, if the task force failed to reach consensus and its report merely reflected the respective positions of the two sides, then it means that there is no agreement and Cabinet and the union will have to decide on the way forward. The union has no choice, in the interim, but to flex its muscles, because failure to do so will not move the government.
The union should not be entertaining discussions, at this stage, about returning to the negotiating table. That would be like shooting itself in the foot.
It is high time that teachers get a living wage or at least an agreement to graduate to a living wage. The practice of all public workers enjoying the same wage increases, each year, is counterproductive. Teachers deserve special treatment.

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