While some teachers are expecting payments from a 2011 debunching agreement that was secured by their union, Perma-nent Secretary Delma Nedd says the Ministry of Education (MoE) never agreed to make any such payment.
According to the 2011-2015 agreement between the MoE and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), “an equivalent of approximately one per cent of the teachers’ wage bill will be used to implement the debunching exercise by the end of May, 2011.” This condition has not been met.
Currently teachers are paid on a scale constituted using academic qualifications, with no accounting for experience. A debunching of the salary scale would see teachers being paid different salaries, commensurate with their years of experience.
Stabroek News had reported GTU President Mark Lyte as saying in May that the MoE had agreed to pay teachers debunching.
At a press conference at the union’s headquarters, Lyte had explained that there was agreement with the ministry that the debunching would be paid to the teachers, as it was inked in the multiyear agreement at 1% of the teachers’ wage bill. “We have received correspondence from the Ministry of Education that teachers will be paid for that 1% from 2011 to 2015 as agreed on,” he had added, while stating that they are anxiously awaiting that payment.
But Nedd said the MoE never agreed to make the payment.
“We have not agreed to pay debunching. That is for the policymakers at the Ministry of Finance to decide,” she said. Asked to comment on the negotiation process with the union, Nedd explained that there is no negotiation going on as the Ministry of Finance is awaiting the outcome of the engagement between the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and the Department of the Public Service.
Contacted for comment, Lyte expressed disappointed at the ministry’s continued “failure to fulfil commitments.”
“We sat with the MoE and we agreed in principle that we are going to have the debunching done at 1% of the teacher’s wage bill for each of the years from 2011. We have a copy of a document which was sent to Ministry of Presidency to be debated by Cabinet. We were told that Cabinet would pronounce on the matter. So to now hear that no agreement was reached is disappointing,” Lyte said.
