General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers Union, Coretta Mc Donald yesterday met with hundreds of educators in Region Two as their strike entered its fourth day.
Yesterday, more teachers joined the strike action and more tents had to be placed where the teachers had assembled. Also, three pots of cook-up were put out for teachers who are spending the day and water was made available.
During her address to striking teachers, McDonald reminded that they are all one and that education is a business where there is no room for politics.
She said that teachers with different levels of qualifications were promised a review of their salaries and to date it has not happened. She added that the “cash grant” that the Ministry of Education is distributing is not benefiting teachers in any way.
The General Secretary warned that teachers will continue to strike until the Government of Guyana reviews salaries. She lamented that by the time teachers take out their expenses they run “broke” at the end of the month forcing them to occupy a second job to deal with the rising cost of living.
“This fight must not go down because of fear or victimization, we not going to bow to fear whether we are Hindus, Muslim, Christian or Rastafarian we serve our almighty somewhere up there. He will reward justly, encourage your teachers to leave the schools, we must send the message we are united in this fight” McDonald declared.
Declaring that they are open to talks, McDonald said that the strike is for the betterment of teachers across the country.
“The first thing the government has to do is to reinstate the deductions of the GTU dues, that’s the first thing, that there is total eye pass, and the next thing we will ask the (government) to do is to apologize to teachers for saying that teachers will have small change in their pockets”, McDonald said.
Teachers who joined the strike action continue to say that they stand strong with the Guyana Teachers Union. Many of them asserted that their salary is meagre and often times they have to borrow. Many of them explained that the cost of living in Guyana is rising and prices for groceries in the shop have sky rocketed.
“We are really struggling with the current salary. Many times we can’t even afford to take our families out for a social event because our money is so small, travelling, house expenses are so many things that we sometimes leave with $5000”, a teacher explained.”
The teachers said that they will continue to strike until the Government of Guyana talks with the Guyana Teachers Union. In Region Two hundreds of teachers across the region have stayed away from classrooms and children are just attending and sitting in their classrooms.
