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Teachers’ strike, protest continues this week
Teachers protesting outside the Ministry of Education on Brickdam last week
Kaieteur News – Teachers across the country will continue to engage in industrial action and protest this week over the government’s refusal to engage in the process of collective bargaining with the Guyana Teacher’s Union (GTU).
Kaieteur News understands that teachers and representatives of the GTU will assemble outside the Minister of Education’s Office on Brickdam, and outside the Regional Education Offices all across Guyana to protest.
The GTU’s General Secretary Coretta Mc Donald reminded over the weekend that the industrial action and protest will go hand-in-hand.
“We planned that the protest and strike should last two weeks but it depends on the response we get from the government,” McDonald stated.
The Union’s President, Mark Lyte on Sunday in a live stream via the GTU’s Facebook page, thanked teachers for their support.
“Thanks to our teachers who came out in their numbers within the last week to stand against an attempt at being dictatorial to the salary related matters,” Lyte said.
According to the GTU President, all across the country schools were affected by the strike. He claimed that the GTU has been keeping tabs on the numbers of teachers and student that are affected by the strike.
He explained that, “In one branch where the general council rep {representative} would have done the due diligence to gather the data we have learnt that there is only 18 percent of learners coming out…in fact on Friday only 13 percent of learners came out in that area…all around parents realise that sending their children to school is making no sense.”
He continued: “It is heartless of the powers that be to see that our strike action has gained momentum and do nothing. There are those teachers who faced threats… but our teachers have been resilient in showing up even in greater numbers.”
The GTU President iterated that the union had given the Ministry of Labour “a two-week window” to respond to its demands. He reminded that industrial action can take various forms, if the ministry and by extension the government fails to address the concerns of teachers.
“Even if teachers return to the classroom, we can actually do a lot of things to show our dissatisfaction with the manner in which we have been treated.”
The GTU Head also rubbished claims that the strike action is illegal.
“We ensured that strike was in keeping with all the protocols after the attempts to hold engagements between the Ministry of Education and the GTU were exhausted. In fact, the Ministry of Labour through its Chief Labour Officer and Minister acted in an unprofessional manner by taking the side of the Ministry of Education rather that a neutral party, a mediator to resolve the issues between the two parties,” he said.
As it relates to accusations by the government that the GTU lacks accountability of its finances, Lyte noted that this is an old strategy by the government to muzzle the union.
The GTU President nonetheless stated that all its financial records are audited by a private auditing firm and the reports are tabled at council meetings and conferences of the Union.
“So, this will not work not break us. We will continue to press forward until Government addresses our demands.”
Since 2020, the GTU has been pushing for an across-the-board increase in salaries for teachers as part of a multi-year agreement. The proposal covers the years 2020 to 2023.
As such, teachers believe that the 6.5% salary increase imposed on them by the PPP/C administration last year end, and that the non-salary measures implemented by the Government so far, are insufficient.
Consequently, the GTU said it has been left with no choice but to consider strike action due to the failure of the Ministry of Education to honour its obligations under the existing Collective Labour Agreement (CLA).
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