Teachers’ salary issue resolved -to receive retroactive pay in two tranches

Oct 13, 2018 News

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Not only has strike action been called off but there is no longer any need for arbitration to decide on a suitable salary package for public school teachers.
This is in light of the fact that following a seven-hour long meeting between representatives of the Guyana Teachers Union [GTU] and the Ministry of Education an agreement was derived.
According to a joint statement, “having considered the new information provided which included salary benefits for all scales of teachers ranging from TS1 – TS19 and Special and non-salary benefits, the two parties concluded discussions and have committed to the implementation of the agreement,” said Lyte.
The two sides have agreed for teachers to be paid a 12 percent increase for 2016 and a further eight percent for 2018. The government has also offered teachers a $350 million debunching payout for the period 2016 – 2018.
Although the union had started the negotiation by proposing a 40 percent salary increase for 2016 and an additional five percent for each of the following four years [2017 – 2020], the final outcome saw the Ministry being able to significantly beat down the union’s proposal. Added to this, the Ministry was able to reduce the number of years being negotiated for [from five to three years].
But teachers are not likely to be perturbed by this development.
“We are walking away a lot happier than initially,” said GTU President, Mr. Mark Lyte, as he added, “we have brokered an agreement with the Ministry of Education that will bring a lot of satisfaction to our members and I think that was the ultimate objective of this whole process to ensure that every teacher benefits significantly; that has been achieved through our discussions and deliberations.”
Lye disclosed that the union was able to accept a suitable package based on the outcome of consultations that were had earlier this week. But according to Lyte, although the union went into the meeting with a clear idea of what percentage its membership would be willing to accept, deciding on the non-salary aspect resulted in the meeting being lengthy.
Government had two Fridays ago belatedly revised its initial offer of a $700 million one-off pay out to teachers to a 10 percent increase for 2016 and eight percent for 2018. But this offer had to be further revised Lyte said, “because it would not have allowed for a significant portion of our teachers to benefit… to the extent of about 80 percent of our teachers. So Having looked at that and the previous offer, those persons would not have been captured and as such coming back to the table and having a reviewed position on it, we feel that it will be more equitably received across the board for every teacher.”
Lyte said too that that GTU has also accepted the debunching offer which has paved the way for teachers to be placed in suitable scales from next year. “That is a significant step in our view as well,” said Lyte who claimed to be exhausted after the many hours of “working things out.”
“We have been here since 10 [am] working things out and I think after so many hours you become tired but I think generally we are tired,” said the GTU President.
Commenting on the meeting, Education Minister, Nicolette Henry said, that while the three issues of salary, non-salary and debunching monies were agreed upon in principal, “it is now for us to implement that agreement to ensure that things are acted upon.”
“We had to consider in a large way that every teacher in the system is a beneficiary of the outcome and so that is what we have proposed essentially,” said the Minister.
The two sides are slated to meet again next week to sign the agreement. It is expected that the percentage increase will be deducted from the interim payment teachers had earlier received along with other public servants and that the payable increase will be paid in two tranches.
But going forward it is likely that the Ministry and the union will be able to sustain amicable relations. This is in light of the Minister’s disclosure that “For any relationship to be improved it requires some amount of collaboration, cooperation and communication…those are key things that have to happen. We have had some of that over the last week or so [and] coming out of those meetings we believe that the union is created to support the work of the Ministry and that the Ministry should be supportive of the union and so we are looking for a very symbiotic relationship.”
Henry added, “We expect that a lot of the issues that had to be removed out of the way have now been removed and that has now paved the way for very fertile relationship moving forward.”

 

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