GTU holds firm salary talks must cover 2019-2023

Mar 11, 2024 News

President of the GTU, Dr. Mark Lyte

…produces minutes of meeting to debunk claims by Ministry of Education

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) is holding fast to its proposal that the multi-year agreement for teachers’ salaries must cover the years 2019- 2023.

This is despite a memo which was released by the Chief Education Officer (CEO) of the Ministry of Education (MOE), Saddam Hussain following a meeting with the Union and the Ministry on Thursday last stating that “any multi-year agreement must start from the year 2024, not retroactively.”
As a result, the GTU released a copy of the minutes of the meeting via its Facebook page signed by both representatives of the Union and the Education Ministry which states the parties agreed that the salary matters related to multi-year proposal for 2019- 2023 are among the issues identified to be prioritised during their discussions.

Speaking on live stream via the Union’s Facebook page on Sunday, President of the GTU Dr. Mark Lyte said they are sticking to the proposal to have the Government of Guyana look at the multi-year agreement with a view of reaching an agreement for teachers to be paid increases in accordance with the amounts.

He said that the GTU was forced to release the minutes of the meeting to expose the inaccuracies of the memo released by the ministry.
“Over the past five weeks, we have been exposed to one lie after the other… you know, the union was reluctant to release the minutes of the meeting but we had to put it out there because many of members were already concluding that that memo was accurate,” Dr. Lyte disclosed.

He noted that the minutes as signed by both parties, has shown how “deep seated this lie is, this is rulership that lies to succeed…” As such, the GTU President called on members not to be distracted.

“We cannot allow the false narratives to divide us…We have asked for the salary matters relating to 2019 -2023, there is nothing there in the minutes about 2024. We never submitted a 2024 proposal; our submission is for 2019 – 2023 and we are holding fast to that.” He noted too: “It is really scandalous and borders on our integrity as individuals.”

Dr. Lyte led a 13-member delegation to the negotiations with the Chief Education Officer and his team at the Ministry’s boardroom on Thursday. The CEO issued a statement later that night following media reports denying that the Ministry had agreed to the GTU’s proposal for the period 2019-2023.

He said the articles “convey the false impression that the Government of Guyana has agreed there shall be a multi-year agreement, 2019-2023. This is a matter proposed by the union that will be discussed.”