By Abigail Headley
The GTU yesterday announced that teachers will be taking industrial action come February 5 until a favourable response is obtained from the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the other relevant authorities, regarding salary increases and non-salary benefits, among other pending issues.
Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) General Secretary Coretta McDonald last night expressed her frustration with the government’s handling of negotiations. According to her, in 2020 a proposal was submitted by the union to the government. This proposal, she explained was supposed to span from 2020 to 2023, but no response has been forthcoming on it, to date.
“So that proposal is what we’ve been arguing all the time about… We wrote them… We wrote the Ministry of Labour, since GTU and the Ministry of Education… since the two parties could not sit and agree on the form of negotiations, on what the outcome is going to be, we wrote the Ministry of Labour and we asked the Chief Labour Officer if the two sides cannot sit, let the Ministry of Labour now act as the mediator,” McDonald told Stabroek News.
The Member of Parlia-ment (MP) continued that after 14 days had elapsed without a response to the GTU’s letter of appeal, they sent yet another letter, but received no response still. This then led to another letter being sent, this time with a request for an arbitrator, the ultimate stage in the process.
She explained that the letter stated: “We are prepared to submit to you names of persons from which… you can elect one person to be the arbitrator”.
However, McDonald noted that a response was still not forthcoming. As such, during the Christmas vacation the union held talks with members who expressed dissatisfaction and the decision was made to take things a step further. And so after the Christmas vacation, the GTU attempted to engage the MoE but said they were ignored again. They then decided to embark on industrial action and notified the Ministries of Labour and Education.
In response to GTU’s decision to strike, McDonald stated that last week the Ministry of Labour reached out, asking the GTU to resend their letters, stating that they had been misplaced. The General Secretary noted that she agreed to resend them.
“Anyhow, [I said] I’d be very happy to send you a copy of both letters and note, I’m going to place very, very large on those letters “COPY” and I will send you hard and soft copies. And mind you when we send the hard copies, kindly ensure that whoever’s receiving it, that they sign their name legibly so we can read the name of the person that is signing for that letter.
The MP said that after receiving the letters the labour ministry corresponded with GTU, explaining that they did not respond to the letter because they recognize that the union was engaging with the MoE.
Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton yesterday took to social media to address teachers who are contemplating participation in the strike. In a video posted on the Ministry of Labour (MoL)’s Facebook (FB) page, Hamilton accused GTU executive members of going around Guyana and manipulating teachers into taking part in the industrial action.
Hamilton stated that teachers are not employed by the GTU but rather the MoE and as such, they should not let themselves be intimidated by the GTU executive members.
“Teachers are not appointed by the GTU. All teachers are appointed by the Teaching Service Com-mission (TSC)… teachers are employed by the MOE and not by the GTU. So I would say to teachers… do not allow the GTU and its executives to threaten you or intimidate you. They cannot and they are in no position to cause you to lose your job [or] to cause you not to be promoted. Your promotion and the supervision of all teachers of the cooperative republic is that of the MOE and the TSC,” he asserted.
Hamilton stated on the video, “I, as Minister of Labour, am duty bound to protect everyone who would have been intimidated and or bullied by the teacher’s union to join an illegitimate and illegal strike”.
In his address, the minister warned that “any strike by the GTU will be deemed illegal and illegitimate by the Ministry of Labour”.
Hamilton further explained that this is so because both the GTU’s General Secretary, McDonald and the executive of GTU is fully aware, “based on the correspondence between the union and the Chief Labour Officer that they were attempting to have him override procedures and stages that are necessary for good labour relations”.
Hamilton said that all teachers should recognize that joining an illegal strike makes them a part of illegal action.
“And it follows that your employer would be duty-bound to take whatever necessary disciplinary action against you. So I will urge… that the GTU follow the proper procedures, if they believe they have a grievance,” he added.
The GTU believes that it has exhausted all options and that industrial action is now necessary. It hopes that the government will engage with them and implement aspects of their proposal.
“Pay us. And then we will start talking after then. Pay us what you owe us and then we’ll start talking after then. We’ll start talking about the new proposal,” McDonald urged last night.
When questioned on the minister’s accusations against the GTU executives, McDonald said “We don’t hire, fire, we don’t discipline in any other form… As a matter of fact, teachers could carry us to court if we only embark on supporting the ministry (MoE) in firing them or threatening them. So the minister is completely out of whack”.
