As the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) continues to press the issue of a multi-year agreement, the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, has said that that such matters are dealt with at the level of the President’s office.
“As you are aware that the Ministry has never negotiated, it’s always been from a level of Office of the President.” Minister Manickchand said when contacted.
Responding to a recent question about talks with the GTU on a comprehensive package, President Irfaan Ali said that his plans entail travelling and listening to teachers across the country, to get an idea of what is needed.
This however does not sit well with the GTU, as some of the executive have expressed their dissatisfaction at the process of negotiations, noting that while the President continues to not look at the body as its true representatives, the meetings they have attended are going nowhere and that the government seems to be using a tactic to eventually give an across-the-board increase rather than what the union would have bargained for.
Manickchand however disputed such claims and noted that they have been meeting with the union frequently on several matters and ironing out the concerns but when it comes to the agreement, that will be dealt with by the President.
“We are meeting with the union on professional issues and we continue to do that and the President addresses especially those issues you are now asking. The multi-year agreement was also derived from the Office of the President”, she told Stabroek News.
The GTU and Government, would on a yearly basis engage each other on wages, benefits, and salaries. This engagement comes within the ambit of a collective bargaining agreement.
Since 2018 under the APNU+AFC administration, teachers across Guyana were able to benefit from a multi-year agreement that would have taken some time to construct. After six hours of negotiation on October 12, 2018, the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teachers’ Union struck a deal on salary increases for teachers for the period 2016 to 2018, with union representatives accepting an across-the-board increase of 8% for 2018.
For 2016, then Minister of Education Nicolette Henry told reporters after the meeting, the parties had agreed to a tiered increase of 12% for junior teachers and 8% for senior teachers. There was no increase for 2017 and the 8% increase for 2018 applied across-the-board. The arbitration process, which was initiated following nine days of strike action by teachers nationwide was aborted.
In 2019, teachers received 8.5 to 9 per cent salary increases in line with what was administered across the board to public servants.
In early 2019, the GTU then submitted a proposal for an agreement to cover the 2019-2021 period. That proposal never got off the ground as was discussed with the Ministry, and was delayed due to a number of issues, including the holding of General and Regional Elections in 2020.
After a lengthy pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a reworked proposal was re-submitted to the new government.
Fast forward and the issues remain under the PPP/C government, which since taking office in August 2020, has not signed a multi-year agreement with the GTU.
Currently, the union and the government are discussing another multi-year agreement and its provisions, which include inter alia, duty-free concessions for teachers, scholarships for post-graduate programmes, the housing revolving fund, salary increases, better remote-area incentives for teachers in the hinterland, more clerical support at schools, resolution of the 2016 fiasco where salary scales for new teachers were changed, increments for additional qualifications and less academic workload on Headteachers and Deputy Headteachers, etcetera.
