Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
Salary increase for public school teachers… GTU, Education optimistic after two-hour meeting
- Ministry to present matrix of figures for discussion tomorrow
Minister of Education and representatives of the GTU addressing the media after yesterday’s meeting.
“They can sleep easy tonight knowing that something good is expected to come on Friday.”
These were the words of General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers Union [GTU], Ms. Coretta McDonald, when asked to comment on the outcome of a meeting with representatives of the Education Ministry yesterday.
Based on information filtered to the media earlier this week, yesterday’s meeting should have seen the union accepting or rejecting a revised salary package offered by government to public school teachers.
At a meeting between the two sides on Friday, a revised offer was proposed to teachers. This translated to a 10 percent pay hike for 2016 and a further eight percent for 2018. The government also proposed a $350 million debunching payout to teachers.
A follow-up meeting was held on Monday between the two sides in the presence of President David Granger who had shared his belief that the teachers’ salary matter will be resolved by Friday [tomorrow].
At the end of the just over two hours long meeting yesterday, both sides were calling their discussion “a work in progress.” However, McDonald, like President Granger, shared the union’s optimism that “we are looking for a final resolution on Friday.”
But both parties upon coming out of the meeting were reluctant to answer other questions posed by media representatives about the meeting. They both agreed that a joint statement issued by the Ministry expressed their view. Copies of the statement were shared to media operatives even as Minister of Education, Ms. Nicolette Henry, said, “The statement represents in its entirety how the discussion went today [yesterday].”
McDonald added, “This statement reflects exactly what transpired at the meeting.”
Highlighting that the meeting discussed proposals for salaries, the statement detailed that “It was a working meeting where new information was provided that was not discussed nor considered prior to the offers made earlier.”
However, neither side seemed willing to share this new information.
The Minister of Education, however, reiterated that the discussion is “a work in progress.” She added, “The new information is nothing specific that we would wish to share at this point in time. A lot of what has to be sorted out requires the input of both parties so that we can resolve the issue. The offer provided by the government continues, at this time to be a work in progress.”
The statement outlined further that the parties have committed to review the new information to ensure that the interest of all teachers will be considered. Moreover, the statement added that “the Ministry has undertaken to provide a matrix of figures which will be presented for discussion Friday [October 12, 2018].”
When asked what was the union’s position entering the meeting, McDonald made it clear that the union’s membership is confident that it will make the right decision. “Our teachers are saying they trust our executive members to work in their best interest.”
McDonald in calling upon the membership to retain its confidence in the union said, “Just have faith in us, be a little patient because whatever we do, you are our main concern and you are going to benefit from whatever is the outcome of all of this.”
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