President of the GTU, Mark Lyte on Friday evening lashed out at the government calling it “heartless” as according to him the union is ready to negotiate terms for teachers to return to the class room with discussions on salary increases being prioritised.
“Our government watched us for four days (demonstrating) to the world at the entrance of the energy conference and they ignored us, they watched us for ten days move from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Finance and they remain unmoved, that speaks of heartlessness, that speaks of being heartless to the people”, Lyte said on Friday evening in a live broadcast on the Guyana Teachers Union’s (GTU’s) Facebook page.
He questioned how members of the government can go to sleep at nights knowing that educators are being treated in such a manner.
Teachers are expected to continue striking tomorrow as the standoff between the GTU and government continues with no signal of collective bargaining talks between the two.
“Monday (tomorrow) we are outside, I want to urge all our teachers Monday will be the 15th day, we will return outside, we continue on Monday …until there is a terms of resumption that is specific to the terms that we are going to agree to, one of which we must have discussion on our salary matters with a timeline in mind.”
Lyte stated that, “As a union we operate within the confines of our resources, but we are committed to the task at hand.”
Justice Sandil Kissoon last week ruled that the government is barred from deducting monies from striking teachers’ salaries until the GTU’s legal challenge against this move is determined.
Lyte commenting on the court matter on Friday evening in the live video, said, “the matter today was for the judge to act in accordance with our filing and so in spite (of) the Attorney General trying to put up several arguments and citing cases, the judge ruled in our favour saying that he is going to allow for an early hearing since the state wants to challenge our filing and that would be done from the 20th of March and we don’t know how long the trial will take but the judge will hear the case but in the meantime the judge has instructed that what existed before the strike, the arrangements that existed before the strike between the Ministry of Education by extension the government for paying teachers their full salary and also for remitting dues to the Guyana Teachers Union that status quo must remain.”
He said, “So teachers who have been threatened that your salaries have been cut the judge has issued a ruling…And I am here to assure you that as your president, and the president of the Guyana Teachers Union I have given a commitment to serve you as long as you would have elected me.”
Passion
Stating that he has a passion for education, Lyte said it drives him to not only see young people educated but also ensure that educators are respected and their “values are upheld.”
He pointed out that what he has observed over the last fourteen days of the strike is something that has moved him to be emotional, however, he said that he will not give up.
“To see how government has ignored our teachers, ignored our teachers for fourteen days gives me a clear indication as to how as an educator I am valued, how my colleagues are valued and this will remain with me forever.”
Lyte then stressed, that they have given a commitment to the country’s teachers that they have their backs, “we have given a commitment that we will continue to press our case without fear and favour and that we have repeatedly said that the Guyana Teachers Union is ready to negotiate on the bargaining table, we are ready to negotiate the terms of resumption, we are ready to have discussion on salary increases.”
He said, that they want the “salary matters to be given preference” since they have waited for over three years. “We are saying to this administration that the teachers don’t want to be outside but we believe that this is the only way that our voices can be heard and even the position we have taken our voices in this country don’t seem to have been heard and that’s a sharp reality.”
According to him, the way in which the teachers have been treated during the strike period has caused “irreparable damage” in teachers even the ones who would have returned to school.
Commending the teachers, Lyte said, “every teacher must and should stand their ground.”
