The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) Tuesday said announced that teachers would resume their strike action on Thursday as they continue to press the Irfaan Ali government to sit around the table to negotiate salary increases from 2019 to 2023.
But the government has already rejected the union’s position and that it will only negotiate salaries for teachers from this year moving forward and not the 2019-to 2023 period..
“Because of the absence of collective bargaining, on the part of the of the government, the Ministry of Education (MOE) to address the conditions under which teachers work, especially as it relates to salaries, we are here to announced that from Thursday, May 9th, the strike option will resume in all education districts across Guyana,” GTU President Dr Mark Lyte told a news conference.
“We believe that enough patience was exhibited by the union to allow MOE/Government to arrive at a satisfactory position regarding salary increases for teachers. The repeated salary impositions in December 2021, 2022, and 2023 are a clear indication that the government is unwilling to engage the GTU meaningfully. The strike will officially resume on Thursday, May 9, 2024 and continue until further notice.”
Three months ago the GTU started strike action, but halted the action after filing a Court case over the government’s planned decision to slash the salaries of striking teachers and to also discontinue deducting union dues from the teachers from the union.
Teachers went back to work as the Court case was being heard. An earlier effort at mediation at first appeared to be working, but then the government started to insist that it would only be dealing with negotiations for this year moving forward.
With the government signaling that it would be appealing Justice Sandil Kissoon’s judgement to the Guyana Court of Appeal and with the likelihood that the case going to the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the country’s final court of appeal, the GTU said it was aware of the risk of ultimately losing the case but was prepared to return to the streets for a “livable salary that is compatible with our years of training and experience.
“We have considered that. Everything is a risk when we took the matter to court it was a risk, when we stood out there for 29 days it was a risk and I believe that the situation at hand warrants the risk,” GTU president said.
In Guyana, Grade ‘A’ school head teachers take home GUY$280,000 (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) and the lowest take-home is about GUY$90,000 compared to a number of Caribbean countries where teachers with a Bachelor’s Degree earn more than US$2,000.00
The GTU President said that the strike from Thursday would be a “resumption”, based on the High Court’s decision that the strike was “lawful and legitimate” because government had refused numerous efforts to go to the bargaining table over a protracted period of time. Against that background, the GTU insisted that the strike from Thursday would be legal.
“The court ruled that our strike was legally done and this is a resumption or continuation of the strike, so based on the court’s ruling, we are following all the steps needed for the process of collective bargaining to take place and so we believe that the strike is legal there are those who are going to come out and say it’s illegal, it’s racial, it’s political but the teachers understand that it’s our bread and butter
Lyte said the Minister of Education Priya Manickchand, Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton, Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain and the Chief Labour Officer were informed Tuesday about the impending resumption of the strike on Thursday.
But there has been no response as yet from the authorities.
The GTU said that notification of strike action has also been copied to the International Labour Organisation, Caribbean Union of Teachers and Education International.
GEORGETOWN, Guyaana, May 7, CMC