Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Ending teacher’s strike was not a solely executive decision – Dr. Lyte
President of the GTU, Dr. Mark Lyte
Kaieteur News – President of the Guyana Teacher’s Union (GTU) Dr. Mark Lyte said on Wednesday that the decision to end the strike was not solely taken by the executive body.
Dr. Lyte in a live stream via the Union’s Facebook page stressed that a decision to either take, or call off an industrial action does not rest on the voice of a few but rather that of the masses.
“Whenever a decision is taken to have industrial action or to call off an industrial action it does not rest on the voice of the few. It rests on the voice of the majority and from where I sat and what I heard. The feedback I got to the meetings that were convened I recognized that the voice for the strike to come to an end was resounding from the masses,” he said
Furthermore, “So the action that was taken to bring an end to the strike was not a solely executive decision. It was a decision where we listened to all of our members in all the counties. We heard what they had to say their concerns were raised and we used the opportunity to address those concerns in a very amicable way.”
According to the GTU President, numerous concerns were taken to the General Council, Officers and Executive Council, hence it was a collective and inclusive constitutional decision taken on the behalf of the general membership after listening extensively to them.
Noting that the decision made some persons unhappy as they would have preferred to sit it out, Lyte explained that the union always had a listening executive that is interested in the welfare of its members hence the decision was taken to return back to the classroom.
“We returned to the Ministry of Labor with a view to come up with the amicable resolution. What we did was to hear from the rank and file members what their desire or wishes are and having heard from those rank and file members, we were able to gain the support of general council and the decision was taken as to the way forward,” he added.
It was reported last month that the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) is prepared to meet with the Government through the August holiday period to hammer out teachers’ pay issues.
Speaking to Kaieteur News, General Secretary of the GTU, Coretta Mc Donald explained that while the pay issues remain top of the agenda, the Union will soon be meeting with Ministry officials to figure out the terms of resumption.
She noted that “The GTU/Ministry of Labour is exchanging documents on the terms of resumption for teachers to return to the classroom. We are also in discussion with the teachers on strike to ensure that teachers are present in their respective school before schools go on its August break.”
The GTU General Secretary said that the union is also working its new proposal which will be presented to the Ministry of Education after the terms of resumption are agreed upon. “So we have the new proposal but it will only be presented the Ministry of Education after we agree on the terms of resumption.” Mc Donald explained. She noted that in the meantime she said that the impact of the strike has been felt significantly across the country.
“In terms of participation in the strike we saw like an 80 percent of teachers in Region Four who did not work, 80 percent in Region 10, Regions Two, Three, Five and Six were below the 50 percent mark because as you know these are the regions that are influenced more politically… but we saw an overall significant participation,” she said.
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