No resumption of work unless Govt. offers something tangible - GTU

No resumption of work unless Govt. offers something tangible – GTU

May 15, 2024 News

…talks with Education Ministry to continue on Monday

Kaieteur News – The second day of discussions between the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) ended in a stalemate and with the GTU assuring that it will remain on strike if the ministry refuses to place a tangible solution on the table.

General Secretary of the GTU, Coretta McDonald

Nationwide strike resumed on Monday following the inability of the two sides to come to an amicable solution. However, both sides met to discuss the terms of resumption but have since been unable to agree.

The GTU has been calling on the government to hike teachers’ salaries and have since put a multi-year agreement 2019-2023 to the government for consideration. The government has since refused to accept the proposal, noting that it is only prepared to engage the Union on salary matters from 2024 onwards. This resulted in the Union utilising industrial action.

The two sides have not been involved in Collective Bargaining, an element integral to the resolution of the stalemate.

On Tuesday night, General Secretary of the GTU, Coretta McDonald told Kaieteur News that the Union requested that several phrases be added to the Terms of Resumption, the two sides were discussing but the ministry did not agree to them.

“We deliberated on the fact that we cannot trust any word that comes out of the officials of the Ministry of Education, because once bitten, twice shy,” McDonald said.

She continued, “So in order for us to resume duty fully and call the strike off, to have a full resumption, it means that we would need to have something that is tangible for us to hold on to. Thus far, the ministry is not prepared to release anything that is tangible…”

It should be noted that the process of Conciliation has not yet started.

The General Secretary underscored that the Union has been very lenient with the government and the ministry. She noted too that the GTU is eager to have the issue resolved.

“But we are not going to go down that same road that we went down a few months ago, unless we have something tangible coming from the Ministry of Education with regard to the resumption of duties, there will be no resumption of duties,” McDonald stated.

She shared too that on Monday the talks with the Education Ministry will continue.

On February 5, teachers from across the country took to the streets to protest for better wages and salaries. This action went on for almost a month and resulted in a court battle between the Union and the government. In response to the GTU’s industrial action, government had announced that teachers who participated in the strike action – salaries will be deducted. However, GTU challenged the government’s decision in court and on April 19, 2024, High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon ruled in favour of the teachers, affirming the legality of the strike and prohibiting the government from implementing salary deductions.

The current nationwide teachers’ strike is expected to continue as the talks between the Union and the Education Ministry continue with hopes of meeting an agreement to have the educators back in the classrooms.

Coretta McDonald., General Secretary of the GTU, Government, resumption, work

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