The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) has suspended its recently launched “Boots on the Ground” protests.
In one of a series of statements made on Friday, GTU President Mark Lyte said that as of Monday, the union will be taking a break from protesting the government’s COVID-19 vaccine measures. The protests were also to highlight outstanding financial issues that GTU said needed to be addressed.
In a statement, Lyte said the break will allow the GTU to evaluate its approach and strategise for a more impactful outcome of its efforts.
The decision was announced several hours after Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln denied the granting of an interim injunction sought by unions, including the GTU, against measures restricting access to public spaces by persons who have not been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. According to the judge, the state has a duty to take steps to avert the spread of the disease.
The Guyana Teachers’ Union, the Guyana Public Service Union, and umbrella body, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), are currently awaiting the hearing of the substantive challenge to the measures.
Last week, the Ministry announced that it would be relieving the GTU of its duties of managing a teachers’ scholarship and duty-free concessions programme. It said that the decision came following complaints by teachers that they were being threatened by the union over benefits if they did not participate in activities organised by the union. The GTU has since responded and denied that the union is mismanaged and threatening teachers. The ministry has assured that the benefits will continue to be granted to teachers, while the union has charged that the ministry’s decision is a direct response to the GTU’s ongoing protest action against forced vaccination and owed finances to teachers. The union further informed that there is an agreement in force between the GTU and the government on the scholarship and concessions and this will remain so until a new one is signed.
Meanwhile, Lyte also issued a call on Friday for the GTU’s General Secretary Coretta McDonald to be allowed to continue her advocacy on behalf of teachers.
He said the union had taken note of attacks on McDonald by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and other government ministries. “We know that the General Secretary sits on the Opposition bench in Parliament, but like other union leaders who sit in parliament, she must be allowed to represent the members of GTU the way she has been over the years,” Lyte said in an apparent reference to the past and current President of the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) being a government parliamentarian.
“Teachers of all political, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds must be represented by their union. We have to move pass race, and politics in Guyana. Let the healing begin with teachers, the educators of this nation,” Lyte said. “Moving forward, we ask that our General Secretary be allowed to do her work for the educators of this nation and that the attack cease now.”
This release was published days after Education Minister Priya Manickchand told reporters that in order for the union and the ministry to work together, the union will have to properly conduct itself.
The union has also been accused by Manickchand of being politically influenced as a result of McDonald’s involvement. On Wednesday last, she told reporters that she is of the opinion that the union has started introducing political content which does not benefit the union nor the teacher they want to represent. She noted that her ministry is prepared to continue engagement with the union but it is for the union to decide and “the union has to understand its role and fight for itself. I hope they fix themselves. It’s a long standing union,” she said.
In response to criticism, Lyte on Friday also disassociated the union from the recent jingle that has surfaced on social media. “As a professional body, [it] wishes to disassociate itself from the recent jingle which hurls derogatory remarks at the sitting Minister of Education. We are of the view that political figures have taken this to another level. Hence, the GTU wishes to inform the general public that we remain committed to working with Minister Manickchand and her team at MoE to advance the interest of our teachers.”
