Last Friday’s meeting between the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) to negotiate a multi-year agreement went “favourably for most of the non-financial issues,” GTU President Mark Lyte said.
Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, Lyte, who had previously complained that the ministry was not making the negotiations a priority, said the union is encouraged by the pace at which they are currently moving. “Last Friday’s meeting was productive and we have had a seemingly favourable response for most of the non-financial issues. We will continue discussion next Friday where financial issues will be discussed,” he explained.
Last Friday’s meeting was the fifth in a series that should see a multi-year agreement being inked between the two entities.
Last month, the union had declared that it would take drastic action if the ministry failed to re-start negotiations which had stalled after a meeting in February. After Lyte’s May 11, declaration, the union was able to meet the ministry’s negotiating team on May 18 at which time a timeline for the completion of negotiations was agreed to.
“We have agreed that de-bunching payouts will be examined first and then the new multi-year agreement will negotiated. These negotiations have been scheduled to be completed before the new school year. There are different entities such as the Ministry of Finance [which] have to be approached to deal with different aspects of the agreement so we will [be] negotiating various parts separately,” Lyte explained.
The GTU has asked government for massive pay raises over the next five years, which Lyte had previously argued are needed to ensure that teachers are paid a “living wage.”
According to the proposed memorandum of agreement for the years 2016-2020, 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. All of these represent a cumulative increase of 585% over the salaries currently being earned.
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.
