GTU advises members to make official ‘threat complaints’ - in response to Ministry’s ‘threats are not aligned with policies’ declaration

GTU advises members to make official ‘threat complaints’ – in response to Ministry’s ‘threats are not aligned with policies’ declaration

Aug 24, 2018 News

The GTU members singing their solidarity song during the strike-mobilisation meeting at the C.V. Nunes Primary School yesterday.

The Ministry of Education is calling on any and all public school teachers who have received threats dissuading them from engaging in sanctioned strike action to make an official complaint.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Ministry said that it has noted with concern a recent report carried by this publication in which President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, Mr. Mark Lyte, said that the union is looking into reports that some teachers in Region One were being threatened to stay away from planned strike action.
In the article headlined ‘Strike-ready GTU hears of threats to some teachers’, Lyte told this publication that “Based on second-hand information we are hearing that some of the untrained and semi qualified teachers from areas within Region One have been threatened to stay away from any strike action, and they have been warned that they must report for work.”
It is being alleged, Lyte also said, that the threats have been made by a senior education official. “We are trying to get more information on this,” the GTU President said, even as he insisted that the union has officially informed the Ministry, and by extension the regions, of its plan to engage industrial action. This means that the action to strike is a legitimate one and therefore teachers should not be fearful of participating, Lyte asserted.
In its statement yesterday, the Ministry said that the claims have been investigated by the Department of Education in Region One, but the findings did not suggest that such threats were made. However, the Ministry in its statement added “if indeed such a threat was made by an official of the Ministry of Education, it is advised that a formal complaint is made to the Ministry, since this kind of behaviour does not align with the policies of the Ministry of Education.”
Lyte in an invited comment yesterday said that in light of the Ministry’s disclosure, “we will make contact on the ground with our Reps, so that they can get the teachers to provide the evidence, so that official complaints can be made to the Ministry. We will advise all of our members, where necessary, to make official complaints now that the Ministry has said that it is open to this.”
The GTU President told this publication that although the strike action is an authorised one, the impact that teachers are likely to feel is that of a financial nature. This is in light of his disclosure that the Ministry, through the regional departments, can opt to withhold monies due to teachers. But according to Lyte, teachers have vowed to participate in the strike action although they are aware that they will not be eligible for strike relief.
As part of its efforts to mobilise teachers for the strike action, union executives have been travelling across the country to meet with teachers. Yesterday two meetings were held on the Essequibo Coast at the Huis’t Dieren and C. V. Nunes Primary schools.
“These meetings were well attended…we had at least 80 teachers at each of these venues,” said Lyte, as he added, “as we wind down our week of mobilisation, tomorrow [today] we will be meeting with our teachers in Region Five and Six [Berbice].”
Starting Monday [August 27, 2018], the 7000-odd GTU-represented teachers are expected to begin to engage strike action by staying away from school and by extension, refusing to participate in pre-term activities.
Teachers are expected to continue to stay away from school the following week which will mark the start of the new school year.
A decision on the way forward will be dependent on the reaction of government to the strike action which the union hopes will be a revision of its stance on the multi-year package for teachers. Although government has given its approval for some non-financial aspects of a multi-year salary package for teachers, the union’s membership has expressed dissatisfaction that government has not been so accommodating to the majority of the financial aspects.
This, as a result, saw the membership of the union unanimously deciding to engage strike action in retaliation.