Teachers’ strike ends as Union, MoE agree on Terms of Resumption

Jun 22, 2024 News

---

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) on Friday agreed to end the ongoing teachers’ strike and return to the classroom on Tuesday. The Union and the Ministry of Education reached an agreement on the Terms of Resumption.

Further, it was agreed that conciliation will begin on Wednesday to address the Union’s multi-year agreement, President of the GTU Dr. Mark Lyte announced on his social media.

Among the terms of agreement are that there shall be an end to the strike and full resumption of work by all teachers/educators within two working days; There shall be no victimization by either party; There shall be no loss of service for any teachers/educators; Teachers/educators will return to their respective positions held before the strike; There shall be no transfers upon resumption; That the status quo ante shall prevail subject to any ruling which may emanate from extant legal proceedings between the two parties; Upon the full resumption of work by teachers/educators, conciliation will commence forthwith to determine whether the timeframe proposed by GTU, 2019-2023 or MOE 2024 and onwards should form part of a new multi-year agreement and that both parties shall conduct discussions in accordance with the existing 1990.

“I am here to make a very short statement and to provide an update to the membership of the GTU. First of all let me say that this has been a very difficult time for all of us not only the executives of the Union but for teachers and educators across Guyana. So when no one else stood, any other Union stood for its members like we did resolutely over the last 70 odd days,” the GTU President said during his live statement on Facebook.

He thanked all teachers who supported the strike and noted that the decision to sign the terms of resumption was taken “through fresh country wide consultation.”

Lyte explained that teachers from all three counties, though not 100 percent representative of all striking teachers, believed that the best option currently is to return to work and allow for the grievance procedure to take precedent.

“Hence you see number eight clearly inked that the Union will allow the grievance procedure as signed in 1990 to be the basis of our negotiations going forward and so on Wednesday, the 26^th will be the first set of engagements coming out of these discussions. We will meet with the Ministry to commence the process of conciliation on Wednesday,” he said.

Furthermore, Dr. Lyte said that the GTU tried its best to get the government to agree to interim payments or cash grants as part of the terms of resumption. However, he disclosed that the government made it clear Friday’s meeting did not form part of the conciliation or pre-term process.

“Government clearly declared that is not (a) part of the conciliation or the pre-term process. We tried to push that it did not work and as a Union, we took a decision in the interest of our teachers who are concerned about what would happen in the August term, who are concerned about what would happen in other facets of their lives,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education in a separate statement on its Facebook Page expressed pleasure at the resumption of duties of teachers countrywide.

The Education Ministry had reached out to the Labour Ministry on May 12, 2024 for assistance to mediate in the ongoing discussions with the GTU after there was a breakdown in negotiations between the Ministry and the GTU regarding the question of which years the new multi-year agreement should address.

“The request was made pursuant to the provisions of the 1990 Memorandum of Agreement “the avoidance and settlement of disputes” between the Government of Guyana and the Guyana Teachers’ Union and the Labour Act, Cap. 98:01, which allows the impasse in respect of the timeframe to be referred to the Labour Minister for Conciliation. A meeting was held on Monday, June 13, 2024 at the Ministry of Labour and was mediated by the Chief Labour Officer,” the ministry said.

Additionally, there were a number of meetings held over the last few weeks and which saw the GTU demanding a 20 percent increase across the board before resuming the conciliation talks. However, the Ministry had rejected that claim as abnormal in the circumstances and an attempt to place the ministry under duress.

Meanwhile, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, thanked the Ministry of Labour and specifically the Chief Labour Officer for its intervention.

---

• Dr. Lyte, GTU, Labour, ministry, resume

---