GTU ready to take on govt.’s appeal of High Court ruling on teachers’ strike

May 24, 2024 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

President of the GTU, Dr Mark Lyte.

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) on Thursday said that it is ready to fight the government of Guyana’s appeal against Justice Sandil Kissoon’s ruling that the 5-week teachers’ strike in February was legal and justified.

President of the GTU, Dr. Mark Lyte in an interview with Kaieteur News on the sideline of a protest outside of the Office of the President said, “So our lawyers are geared up and ready to go to the Appeal Court and wherever else it may lead. The course of justice provides for any aggrieved party to go to the next level.”

Dr. Lyte continued: “we are ready to defend our position at all time.”

Further, the GTU head said the Union has the full support of the teachers and will not rest until teachers across the country are adequately compensated by the government.

“The teachers are behind the Union and let’s not be fooled by the numbers we have here, because this time we have done it differently, teachers are at home and in some instances some of them are on the picket line when necessary,” he said while making reference to the number of persons who protested on Thursday.

Dr. Lyte assured that, “Our teachers are solidly behind the Guyana Teacher’s Union, ready to defend our position that the salary is insufficient.” The Union leader noted that discussions with the government continue to be at a standstill.

Dr. Lyte reminded that the meetings with the government are geared at having the striking teachers return to the classroom.

“GTU as a safety net would have said to the government because of their behaviour in the previous occasion we would like you to give an interim payout. Of course, they are not happy with that so the stalemate continues and we continue to insist that we must be given an advance or an interim payout in lieu of the agreement,” he told Kaieteur News.

This publication previously reported that 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.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Education informed schools across Guyana to scrap the end of term examinations due to the crippling effects of the ongoing teachers’ strike for better wages.

Instead, the ministry said that the schools should use continuous assessment to promote students to the next level of their education. The announcement came even after conciliation talks remain deadlocked with no agreement between the Guyana Teachers’ Union and the Ministry of Education on proposals made by both sides to end the industrial action.

In a circular dispatched to regional educations officers, Chief Education Officer, Saddam Hussain said, “Given the number of weeks of instructions already lost and the limited number of weeks remaining in the school year, the Ministry of Education has made the following decisions regarding end of year annual examinations and other matters for 2024.”