Executives of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) yesterday met President David Granger at the Ministry of the Presidency following concerns that several conditions of the multi-year agreement signed between the union and the government in 2011 have not yet been met.
President of the GTU, Mark Lyte told Stabroek News last evening that the hour-long meeting chiefly dealt with the issue of de-bunching of salaries.
According to a Ministry of the Presidency release, after the meeting Lyte noted that the union was assured “that the President will discuss the matter with the Finance Minister and give [them] feedback in the near future.”
According to the 2011 to 2015 agreement between the Ministry and the GTU, “an equivalent of approximately one per cent of the teachers’ wage bill will be used to implement the de-bunching exercise by the end of May, 2011.”
Teachers are presently paid on a scale constituted using academic qualifications. This means that a trained teacher with five years of experience is paid the same salary as a teacher who has recently graduated CPCE; a senior mistress with over 10 years’ experience at her post in some cases may be taking home the same money as someone she once taught. A de-bunching of the salary scale would see teachers being paid different salaries commensurate with their years of experience.
In May of this year the GTU called for teachers to work to rule in protest against the previous administration’s failure to implement the de-bunching promised in that agreement.
This exercise was called off soon after the general elections in an effort to allow the new government to address the issue. However, in an interview with Stabroek News on Tuesday, GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald expressed the union’s frustration with the state of negotiations with the new government.
McDonald said that the discussion on de-bunching was started at the Ministry of Education. “The PS (Permanent Secretary) was a part of all these discussions. After we arrived at the sums that have to be paid out, the PS then said to us, Well, of course, I don’t have money to pay you, so we have to send this to finance. Finance decided that they will not be able to honour that, so it will have to go to Cabinet to have a Cabinet decision. We would’ve spoken to Mr (Joseph) Harmon [Minister of State] two months ago and he said that it will have to go to Cabinet. Yet, yesterday (Monday), this is what I got,” McDonald said as she displayed a letter from the Ministry of the Presidency. The letter directed the GTU to speak to the Ministry of Education to have the matter of de-bunching addressed.
“Don’t leave us hanging,” McDonald demanded of the government. “We are professionals and if we are going to engage you on an issue then engage us properly and in good faith.”
The union’s worry is compounded by the fact that the agreement which guarantees them this provision comes to an end at the end of this year.
Lyte acknowledged that the amount involved, some $247 Million per year, is a daunting sum.
“We know they are looking at the amount of money and worrying about whether they can pay it, but we were promised this money,” he said adding that while there were no assurances given, the union is satisfied that the administration understands the scope of the issue.
“We got the indication that something will be done and we will be pushing for it to be done before the end of the year,” Lyte said.
