Teachers’ strike to resume countrywide tomorrow

May 08, 2024 News

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Kaieteur News – The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) on Tuesday announced that it will on Thursday be resuming country-wide strike action following the failure of the Government of Guyana to engage in Collective Bargaining.

The announcement was made by President of the GTU, Dr. Mark Lyte at a virtual press conference.

The GTU head said since the 29-day strike held in February, the Union was unable to have discussions with the government on the multi-year proposals for increases in salaries.

It was reported that the multi-year proposal covers a period of five years, 2019 to 2023. The Union had proposed a 25 percent salary increase in 2019 and a 20 percent increase for 2020-2023.

“We have heard from the Ministry of Education that they are not prepared and allowed to negotiate for the 2019-2023 [period] for which we have submitted a proposal, in fact they have indicated that they are prepared to negotiate 2024 and current. A position that the union will not support and agreed to hence having taken the matter relating to the cutting of salaries and the remittance of dues to the court and allowing that process to take place, the GTU would have consulted its members on the next step,” Lyte explained yesterday.

Speaking of the next step, Lyte announced that the members of the Union had decided several weeks ago to resume the strike action.

“So here we are making an official announcement that because of the absence of collective bargaining and an attempt on the part of the government, the Ministry of Education to address the condition under which teachers work especially as it relates to salaries we are here to announce that on Thursday May 9^th strike action will resume in all education districts all across Guyana,” he said.

The GTU President said that the Union has officially informed the Education Ministry, through its Permanent Secretary and that the impending strike was brought to the attention of  the Ministers of Education and Labour, Priya Manickchand and Joseph Hamilton respectively.

Also copies of the correspondence were issued to the Chief Labour Officer (CLO), Chief Education Officer (CEO), the The International Labour Organization (ILO), and the Caribbean Union of Teachers.

“We hoped that as we have indicated in our missive that the Ministry of Education who now has the authority to negotiate should in the interest of our learners and the education sector in Guyana work to have the matter before us amicably resolved and this would not be resolved just by talks, it would be resolved through the active signing of the multiyear agreement, having come up with the areas that we would agree on,” Lyte stated.

In February, the GTU initiated legal proceedings in the High Court to challenge the Government of Guyana (GoG) decision to deduct the salaries of the teachers participating in the strike, as well as to stop deducting teachers’ fees on behalf of the Union.

The GTU asked the court for a conservatory order that the status quo remains the same that the government will not deduct monies from the wages and salaries of teachers engaged in any industrial action, and to continue deducting the Union fees and remitting same to the GTU, until the determination of the matter.

The other orders and declarations, inter alia, include discrimination, breach of freedom of association, and breach of protection from deprivation of property.  Furthermore, GTU requested declarations of bad faith by the government and breach of natural justice. They also requested costs, aggravated damages, exemplary damages, and any other orders the court deems appropriate.

In April High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon ruled that the GTU- led strike was legal.  As a result, the judge prohibited the government from acting on its decision to deduct the salaries of teachers who participated in the month-long strike in February. The High Court Judge also slammed the government’s decision to discontinue deducting union dues from the salaries of teachers for the union describing the move as “arbitrary, unilateral, and discriminatory”.

Following the Judge’s decision, Attorney General Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC had told reporters that the government will definitely appeal the decision.

When asked during the press conference that if resuming the strike is not a risk considering that the court case is likely to be appealed, GTU’S President said, “We have considered that, everything is a risk, when we took the matter to the High Court it was a risk, when we stood out there for 29 days it was risk, I think the situation at hand warrant the risk taking.”

This publication had reported on February 5, 2024 teachers from various education districts across the country had held strike and protest action for a period of 29 days calling on the Government to relent to their demands for higher salaries via the collective bargaining process.

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• Guyana Teachers Union, Mark Lyte, resumes, strike action, teachers

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