Salary increase for public school teachers...Govt. finally revises offer - proposes 10 percent salary hike for 2016; further 8 percent for 2018 - $350 million debunching payout

Salary increase for public school teachers…Govt. finally revises offer – proposes 10 percent salary hike for 2016; further 8 percent for 2018 – $350 million debunching payout

Oct 09, 2018 News

The meeting in session yesterday.

With government moving to revise its salary offer to teachers, the Guyana Teachers’ Union [GTU] is reportedly now entirely dependent on its membership to decide the way forward. According to a well placed source, on Friday the Ministry of Education invited the GTU to a meeting where the revised offer was proposed. This publication was informed that the Ministry has now put on the table a 10 percent increase for 2016, and an additional eight percent for this year.
Further, the Ministry proposed a $350 million payout for the period 2011 to 2018 with teachers receiving a lump sum payout.
The Ministry has also reportedly proposed that from 2019, the teachers will be placed on suitable scales and paid in that regard onwards.
At that meeting, this publication was told that the union did not accept the offer but rather indicated that it will have to consult with its membership.
“There are reports that the union membership is interested in a higher percentage although some of them are willing to accept,” the source related. A follow-up meeting was called yesterday which saw the two parties meeting with President David Granger at State House. The two sides are expected to meet again on Wednesday at the Ministry of Education where the union is expected to state its membership’s position.
This development comes at a time when the union and the Education Ministry were at a stage of setting up an arbitration panel and had failed to agree on a chairperson. This had, in fact, caused Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection with responsibility for Labour, Keith Scott, moving to unilaterally appoint Professor Leyland Lucas of the University of Guyana as the chairman.
The union in stating its rejection of Lucas and Government’s failure to have that decision rescinded had threatened to resume strike action. The union had in early September mobilised its membership for strike action which saw the start of the new school year being considerably hampered.
The strike had ended after the Education Ministry agreed with the Union to head to arbitration to resolve the deadlock in the face of failed conciliation under the Social Protection Ministry.
Union representatives, when contacted yesterday, were reluctant to comment on the two recent meetings.
However, a statement and recording with comments made by President Granger on the latest development were issued. In the statement headlined, “President Granger sees imminent end to GTU, Ministry of Education deadlock’, the Head of State assured that the two sides are now closer to a resolution than ever before. According to the statement, the President convened a meeting between the executive members of the GTU and the Minister of Education, Ms. Nicolette Henry and other education officials.
At the conclusion of that meeting it was noted that President Granger said that the two sides have found “common ground” and are working towards a favourable outcome. It is expected, he said, that an announcement will be made by Friday.
“We have had some hiccups but we now seem to be coming to the end of the road. There seems to be wide areas of what I would say common acceptance of what needs to be done. Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry, had a long meeting on Friday [October 5] with the Union and… all of the points that were at issue between the two sides were discussed.
“We have agreed that the two sides would meet again on Wednesday, October 10. The intention is to create a basis for an agreement between the two sides as early as possible, possibly by Friday,” he said.
President Granger noted that it is important for the Government and the Union to work to complete this process since it is aware that the teachers have expectations. He noted that the teachers can be assured that the Government is concerned about the issues raised and is working to address these.
“They are not being ignored or anything. We, of course, expect that the Teachers’ Union consult with its members and the Teachers’ Union expects that we, the government, consult with the Ministry of Finance. So we have reached a broad area in which, I would say that there is common ground.
“I don’t want to call it an agreement but we have reached common ground and I think the people of Guyana could look forward to an amicable resolution within days. It is a forward-looking agreement,” the Head of State said.
The meeting was attended on the Government’s side by Chief Education Officer, Mr. Marcel Hutson; Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Ms. Adele Clarke, and Human Resources Manager, Ministry of Education, Ms. Jacqueline Simon. The GTU was represented by President, Mr. Mark Lyte; General Secretary, Ms. Coretta McDonald; and other executives.