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TEACHERS’ UNION GEARING-FOR ANOTHER STRIKE
Two months after taking office, ministers in the government received a sizeable increase in salaries. On the other hand, public school teachers over the years have had to be content with a three per cent across the board increase imposed by the then PPP Government.
Soon after the 2015 elections they received their largest increase in salaries in the past three years, seven percent offered by the new government. Yet they find that the salary is below what they think they should receive.
Teachers are responsible for nurturing and molding the minds of our children and prepare them to be good citizens and stewards of society. Some who have been forced to live on their meager salaries despite the rise in cost-of-living and increases in transportation fares had to seek a second job.
But there are those who thrive on extra lessons since parents have found that their children do not learn much during school hours.
That being said, many believe that the government will pay a heavy price at the poll in the Local Government Elections for its behaviour towards teachers.
The government handling of the current teachers’ dispute falls far short of good industrial relations practices. It seems that the Granger administration does not want a resolution. The Ministry of Labour imposed an arbitrator, much to the disagreement of the Guyana Teachers’ Union. And this happened even after the Education Ministry rejected every name submitted by the union.
There is a time for everything, but this is not the time for this government, with local government elections pending and which has less than two years left in office to be wrong and strong.
It seems that the government has ignored the fact that good industrial relations practices are guided by laws, conventions, customs and more so, by ethical practices. Any prudent government will try to settle a union dispute instead of denying a salary increase in an election year. It is a foolish act.
According to the facts, a Memorandum signed by the GTU and the Ministry of Education on September 6, 2018, states, “A chairperson shall be nominated and agreed to by the employer and the union. Both parties have agreed to voluntary arbitration as against arbitration being imposed under the Labor Law, 98:01 Section 4. It means that the appointment of an arbitrator cannot be made without the consent of both parties.
In this case, the Teachers’ Union, which is a party, was not involved in the selection process of the arbitrator. The lack of understanding the memorandum by the Ministers of Education and Labor has led to one blunder to another that has embarrassed the government and themselves.
From the start of conciliatory talks between the two parties, the Union had informed the Chief Labour Officer that it had lost all confidence in the Department of Labour headed by Minister Keith Scott to negotiate the dispute because the Minister had said “teachers are selfish and uncaring.”
His comment poisoned the atmosphere for an unbiased negotiation to take place. He was forced to apologise. Now there is Minister Scott’s imposition. The situation is at an impasse and the GTU is gearing for another strike.
Recently, society’s thinking has been shifting in a progressive direction. Loyalty to any party or group is sliding and teachers who are custodians of our children may be responsible. Without teachers, we may not be able to work and produce as much in the public life. Then again, teachers sometimes fill the gap in parenting.
There is none whose life has not been impacted by a teacher.
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