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GTU back pedals, agrees to salary negotiations from 2024 onwards
GTU General Secretary, Coretta McDonald
…hopes to ink agreement with Education Ministry by August
Kaieteur News – After 75 days of industrial action, the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and the Ministry of Education on Friday agreed that the 2019-2023 multi-year proposal put forward by the Union will be shelved and focus will now be placed on the 2024 and onwards multi-year proposal.
This was announced by the Ministry of Education Friday afternoon. In a statement, the Ministry said that “the conciliation process initiated by the Ministry of Education to engage the Guyana Teachers’ Union regarding the timeline for which a multi-year agreement should be agreed upon has come to an end.”
In the statement, the ministry said that the bilateral talks can now begin on the proposed 2024 multi-year agreement.
“The Ministry of Education will continue to serve teachers in various ways and continues to have the best interest of teachers at heart,” the ministry stated.
Following the ministry’s announcement, calls were made to GTU’s President Dr. Mark Lyte. Those calls were unanswered. However, contact was subsequently made with General Secretary of the Union Coretta McDonald who described the agreement as “a land slide victory for not only the Guyana Teacher’s Union, but, for Trade Unions in general where there were threats of cutting the teacher’s salaries and all kinds of things.”
Asked to elaborate, McDonald said that she views the agreement with ministry as a win. She explained that despite taking industrial action for 75 days and even approaching the court for assistance, the Union has won and the teachers ought to be proud of their efforts.
“This is actually a win for the Guyana Teacher’s Union, because you and I know that the entire system across this country was interrupted. The ministry had to scale down on all of its programmes because teachers were not in school and to that end I want to extend our heartfelt thanks to our members all across this country, to the parent who have been supporting us and the civil society in general who have been supporting us throughout that ordeal,” the General Secretary stated.
McDonald said too that in negotiations there is a winner and a loser and sometimes, those who appear to be on the back foot take longer to emerge victorious. Further, the Union representative said that throughout the discussions with the ministry, the membership of the GTU was thoroughly informed and consulted.
She said given the ministry’s posture, there is a readiness to work with the Union to find amicable solutions to the challenges outlined during the pro-longed industrial action which resulted in schools being significantly affected and the ministry even cancelling the end of term examinations due to the absence of teachers at schools across the country.
Moreover, McDonald told Kaieteur News that the GTU is looking forward to fresh talks with the Education Ministry and will approach them in good faith. She said the Union is hopeful that an agreement will be signed by the end of August so that teachers start the new academic year with renewed vigor.
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