By Antonio Dey and Bebi Oosman
Both the President and the General Secretary of the GTU yesterday vowed that a strike that has seen strong support from teachers across the country will enter its second week tomorrow and will continue until the government convenes talks on collective bargaining.
Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) President, Mark Lyte yesterday declined to comment on remarks by President Irfaan Ali on the strike on Friday. Lyte said that neither the President nor the Ministry of Education has engaged them “directly” hence they cannot offer any comment on what is being said.
Lyte told the Sunday Stabroek, “He didn’t speak to us so I can’t respond we will continue with our strike action stipulated until good sense prevails and our executives are engaged in regards to collective bargaining.”
According to Lyte, in the past week there has been overwhelming support for the cause all across Guyana. Stressing that the strike action was countrywide, he said teachers from different walks of life, religions, political affiliation and ethnicity threw their support behind the strike and came out to protest.
As such, he said in the coming weeks they are sticking to their strike and it is expected that parents will join as the students are the ones who are most affected.
According to Lyte, in the school system presently it is a crucial time for examination preparation and thus it was disappointing to see the way in which the matter is being dealt with.
He noted that for a government which homed in heavily on learning loss during the Covid–19 period, it was interesting to see that there has been no effort to resolve the matter and “it shows clearly what are the priorities and preferences.”
He said that a ministry that might have been focused on the students’ welfare would have grabbed the opportunity to address the concerns of educators. However, he said that the general public must understand that the ministry seems more focused on “personal pride” and a “personal vendetta” against a group of people.
Nevertheless, he said, that while they as educators remain concerned that the longer the strike goes on “the children are going to suffer” they must also stand up and demand betterment for themselves.
General Secretary Coretta McDonald told the Sunday Stabroek that teachers must remain resolute and hold the Ali-led government accountable for not fulfilling its promises of better wages, salaries, duty-free concessions and other requests outlined in the collective bargaining agreement.
She repeated that the industrial action taken by teachers was not “politically” driven but was a clear indication that they were dissatisfied with how their needs were not catered for by the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic.
According to McDonald, since the five days of protest, the Education Ministry has not reached out to the teachers’ union, which is a clear indication that the ministry is disinterested in meaningful engagements regarding the welfare of the nation’s educators.
“Once we have productive conversations with us and put in place timelines for the implementation of the promises delivered to us, then the protest actions will cease, but their failure to meet with us during the five days tells us that they [the government and the ministry of education are callous and uncaring as it relates to the well-being of teachers”, McDonald posited.
Not sit well
On Friday a large crowd of teachers protested in front of the Ministry of Labour’s Brickdam Office which did not sit well with Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton.
Several hours after the picketing exercise in front of his office, the Minister during a televised interview on the National Communications Network, criticized and accused the GTU of luring the teachers into participating in these protests.
He said that “the pro-tests were political since members of the APNU+AFC were seen standing in solidarity with teachers”.
“I saw several of them from the opposition dressed in their green shirts taking part in the protests so this protest has moved from teachers expressing their grievances at their wages and salaries to now a political gimmick and protest that is now controlled by the opposition, well the Guyana Teachers’ Union has to determine if they are truly representing the interests of teachers or if they are engaged in the political biddings of the APNU+AFC”, Hamilton stated.
This statement however attracted strong condemnation by McDonald who said that the Opposition’s presence and support indicates their solidarity and respect for the work delivered by teachers under all manner of circumstances.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday during a press conference held at the Office of the President also levelled these allegations.
McDonald said that many of those present from the opposition have school-aged children whose minds are being moulded by the very same teachers on the picket lines.
The GTU General Secretary pointed that in 2018 teachers had protested against the David Granger government which had refused to accept the recommendations of a High Level Task Force ( that was set up by President Granger ) to settle salary and non-salary benefits.
Stabroek News had reported on August 28th, 2018, that after six months of negotiations, the Task Force had agreed to grant teachers a 40% increase in 2015 salaries and a 5% thereafter for 2016 to 2020, among other benefits.
The Granger administration had, however, told teachers that it could offer only $700 million for increases in the 2018 fiscal year, a sum which amounted to little more than a 5% increase.
McDonald said that Jagdeo (who was the Opposition Leader) during that period said that the protest actions by teachers were not political but it was their moral and democratic right to partake in industrial actions if their financial needs are not being met.
Now that the tables are turned, the GTU General Secretary asked why is that the Vice President cannot ask the President to honour his commitment to teachers as was being touted on many occasions.
“The Vice President went as far as saying that former President Granger should desist from spending monies on dietary and travel entitlements and focus more on increasing, the salaries of teachers, well I want him to tell the President the same now, he should say the same thing to his government now, because teachers are requesting better wages and salaries the protest is suddenly politicized”, she remarked.
McDonald continued “Because teachers are asking for additional allowances to complement their academic qualifications, which is now political, this is ludicrous”.
Hamilton said that he is unmoved by the protest actions in front of his office as neither he nor the Chief Labour Officer (CLO), Dhaneshwar Deonarine can engage in a matter that will addressed by the Ministry of Education.
Observers say this would be most unusual as the CLO’s mandate encompasses pacifying industrial disputes.
Hamilton remarked, “I said this before and I will say it again, the matter based on my understanding is still before the Ministry of Education, to which the two sides (GTU and the ministry) are engaged in discussions on how to address the situation”.
Observers say this is not the case as the main contention is collective bargaining which is not handled by the Ministry of Education but by the Office of the President.
“The Permanent Secretary at the ministry told me that she is shocked at the fact that the GTU was calling on the labour officer to intervene and to emerge as a possible mediator in the situation when the situation is currently being addressed, that we will not do, the law is the law, the minister, the chief labour nor the GTU can impose or coerce each to resort to conciliation”, Hamilton declared.
Like Vice President Jagdeo, Hamilton lambasted the GTU for not submitting financial audited statements to the Registrar of Trade Unions for 2 decades (20 years).
Queries
Auditor General Deodat Sharma in a press statement on Friday said that in response to media queries he could confirm that the last Financial Statement submitted by the Teachers Union to the Audit Office of Guyana for audit was “in respect to 1989” and since then no financial statements were submitted.
The Deeds and Commercial Registries on Friday in a press statement said that the GTU has not filed its annual returns in 20 years.
According to the registry the “Annual Returns required by Section 35 of the Trade Unions Act, Cap. 98:03 to be filed annually by registered trade unions was last filed by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) for the year ending 31st of December, 2004, on the 31st of March, 2005.”
According to Article 35 (1) of this act a general statement of the receipts, funds, effects, and expenditure of every trade union registered under shall be transmitted to the Registrar before the 1st May in every year, and shall show fully its assets and liabilities at the date and its receipts and expenditure during the year preceding the date.
Paragraph 3 of Article 35 of the act noted that every trade union which fails to comply with or acts in contravention of this section, and also every officer of the union so failing, shall each be liable on summary conviction to a fine of seventy-five dollars for each offence.
Observers say that the statements by the audit office and the registries was clear evidence that they had been mobilized to aid the government in its campaign as such information is never volunteered to the general public. Furthermore, it has been asked what exactly had been done by the regulatory authorities over this lengthy period to bring the GTU into conformity or to apply penalties to it.
McDonald acknowledged that the union had lapsed as it relates to its submission of its financial statements to the Registrar of Trade Unions, but this has been resolved.
She said yesterday that the union’s internal auditor had submitted the audited financial statements to the Auditor General (AG) but it is unknown whether Sharma received it.
The General Secretary said like the GTU, several organizations sometimes are not up to date as it relates to the submission of their audited financial statements but the government must not use these shortcomings by the union way to evade the current situation.
She reiterated that teachers deserved better wages and salaries and the protests will not cease until their issues are acknowledged by the government.
President Ali was present on Friday in Port Mourant, Corentyne to commission the first phase of the Guyana Technical Training College Inc and reminded that he had promised incremental benefits to public servants.
Striking teachers held a protest a stone’s throw away from where President Ali was and while he had to pass them to enter the commissioning and again to board his helicopter, he did not engage the educators.
Ali at the commissioning however broke his silence on the matter on what was the fifth day of the strike and reminded that last year he met with nurses, teachers and the public service where he had said that the government has a duty to improve in totality the education and health care systems.
“That is why we are spending three times more per student than we have ever spent in the history of our country from 2019 to now, three times more on every child. Building an enabling environment, creating infrastructure, ensuring that our students are in the best environment for learning, training and development for our teachers, our nurses, our public servants and I said to them then that we are going to commence the process of fixing your welfare.”
According to Ali, presently it is believed by the citizenry that “all the resources is available now”, however, he said that it won’t be until 2027 the real growth in revenue coming in would be seen.
“And I said to our teachers, our nurses, our public servants, and I say to them now again that we are committed to giving you the best life possible. There is no need to politicize, it is for sure that the present situation with the teachers has been overtaken by political expediency”, he charged.
He said that he had explained that the government is going to work in an “incremental way” to ensure that they “have the best welfare package that you will have anywhere else in the region right here in Guyana but it will take time.”
He continued: “But I assured them, even today, that this government will ensure that their total package is the best welfare package they could have in this region as time progress.”
Ali said that teachers do not need to “down tools” as the government is committed to their wellbeing.
“I said then that we’re going to make some interventions and some measures and coming on to the end of this year we are going to have a total evaluation by category of workers so that we can have an intervention that is even more structured and bring more benefits, and that was maybe the third quarter last year, that it will be incremental, that is what we are committed to”, he stated.
According to the President, it must be understood that “all of us have to give a little” in the process of incremental development. “And it is not as if we were going to give five years from now, this very year I said, in the process of this year an evaluation would be made for all categories of our workers.”
