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Govt. breaches High Court order, not remitting teachers’ union dues – GTU President
Kaieteur News – The High Court has been notified of the State’ failure to remit teachers’ dues to Guyana Teacher’s Union (GTU) despite a court order instructing the Ministry of Education to maintain the status quo.
GTU President, Dr. Mark Lyte
This was revealed by President of the GTU, Dr. Mark Lyte during a livestream broadcast via the GTU’s Facebook page on Sunday.
Dr Lyte disclosed that there is a breach of the court order on the part of the Ministry of Education. The GTU President explained that the agency has not been remitting dues despite a conservatory order that is in place.
As a result, the GTU President said he hopes that the officers responsible for defying the order face the consequences for doing so. “I hope the Judge takes a firm stance on this because as a Government you have the responsibility to uphold the law. What the judge has asked is that they let the status quo remain the same and so, somebody has got answer for contempt of court for no dues being remitted in any region in Guyana for the months of March and February despite the court order,” Dr. Lyte said.
He said that the judge was already notified and the issue will be brought before the court at the next court hearing scheduled for April 10 2024. “Somebody will be held responsible for defying the court order…” Lyte reaffirmed.
Justice Sandil Kissoon, last month, had granted a temporary order blocking the Government of Guyana from deducting the salaries of striking teachers. The High Court judge also granted an interim order which restrains the Government from withholding the remittance of teachers’ dues to the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU). The judge made the orders at the first hearing of the case filed by the GTU to challenge the Government’s decision to deduct pay from the salaries of striking teachers and also blocking the administration from moving ahead with a decision to discontinue the deduction of union dues from the salaries of teachers on behalf of the Union until the determination of the full case the GTU brought against the government.
Not long after the court made the order, the Ministry’s Chief Education Officer (CEO), Saddam Hussain was hauled before the High Court to face contempt proceedings. Husain had issued a directive which stated that teachers will face a pay cut despite an interim court order in place instructing the Government not to do so. Hussain had disseminated a memorandum to the Regional Education Officers (REOs) within the eleven public school districts instructing them to continue collecting data on attendance of teachers during the strike.
He noted that orders made by Justice Sandil Kissoon are temporary and essentially when the final order is made, the data will used to determine salaries of those absentee teachers. The CEO emphasised in the memo that “Government of Guyana will not pay teachers for the days which they did not work.” However, when he appeared before Justice Kissoon to face the contempt proceedings, Hussain apologised profusely and gave the court a commitment that the directive to the REOs would be rescinded within an hour of the conclusion of the contempt hearing. The memo was rescinded and a new one was issued moments after the hearing.
For his part, Justice Kissoon noted that Hussain’s instructions to REOs were in direct conflict with his interim orders, so much so that it can be viewed as being geared towards bringing the administration of justice into disrepute. Justice Kissoon noted that the fact that Hussain made reference to his interim orders in his memo, speaks to an attempt of willful disobedience to the orders, an attempt to interfere, prejudice, preempt the decision of the Court and bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
It was pointed out, during the hearing that as a penalty for contempt, a person can face a fine not exceeding $250,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.
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