Three months after the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) first submitted its request for salary increase it is still awaiting an official response from the government of Guyana.
This is according to President of the GTU Mark Lyte, who said that following the precedent set by the previous administration, the union, in December, submitted its request to the Ministry of the Presidency only to be told that they should begin negotiations at the level of the Ministry of Education.
“Under the last administration negotiations were done with the President and Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon. [But]… Minister of State Joseph Harmon… said that we should start our negotiations at the Ministry of Education so on December 17 we submitted to the Permanent Secretary [Delma Nedd],” Lyte said. He added that on January 29 there was a meeting between Minister of Edu-cation Dr Rupert Roopnaraine and the union after which the minister indicated that he would approach Cabinet as regards the union’s requests.
“He indicated that he would consult with the Minister of Finance and then approach Cabinet after which we would receive a response based on the government’s position. That has not happened,” Lyte said.
Two weeks ago Stabroek News was told by individuals at the ministry that the budget deliberations and the minister’s ill health had delayed negotiations. It was expected that the minister’s return to work last week after a brief period of hospitalization would yield some progress. This has not occurred and attempts to get an explanation from someone at the ministry yesterday proved futile.
GTU has asked government for massive pay raises over the next five years, which Lyte argues is needed to ensure that teachers are paid a “living wage.”
The proposed increases are so substantial that, if granted, a Trained Non-Grad Teacher who currently earns $84,921 per month will in 2020 earn $581,815. An untrained graduate would be earning $804,103 while a trained graduate who now earns $131,195 can look forward to being paid $898,849. All of these represent a cumulative increase of 585% over the salaries currently being earned.
According to the “Proposed memorandum of agreement entered into between the Ministry of Education and the GTU concerning terms and conditions of employment for teachers and teacher educators for the years 2016-2020,” which has been seen by Stabroek News, the union is asking for a 40% increase in 2016, a 45% increase in 2017, 50% in 2018, 50% in 2019 and 50% in 2020.
The union submitted its proposal for a new multi-year agreement after the expiration of the 2010-2015 agreement on December 31, 2015. That agreement provided for teachers to receive a 5% across-the-board increase in each of the years covered under the agreement, it followed a similar agreement which provided teachers 5% from 2006 to 2010.
This proposal has been criticised by several individuals including those currently contesting the union’s biennial elections, scheduled to be held on March 26.
One of these is Region Ten Member of Parliament and former Chairman of the Upper Demerara Branch Jermaine Figueira who hopes to be the new General Secretary.
Figueira accuses the present executives of being disconnected from the real bread and butter issues teachers are faced with today.
He stressed that though “Teachers want increased salaries they are not foolish enough to believe that the union’s 40% proposed increase will be readily accepted by government, especially when the economy is now recovering and government has brought back and is prepared to respect the collective bargaining arrangements for all unions in Guyana, who will also be make proposals for their workers as well.”
According to Figueira, the fact that the GTU under the very executives with a few exceptions was accepting 5% consistently for years brings in to question whether the present requests are “a common sense approach.”
