In a major development in the teachers’ strike which has dragged on for 18 school days, Justice Sandil Kissoon yesterday ordered that mediation begin today with two senior counsel and both the GTU and the government will attend though the latter last night said that judicial intervention was unnecessary given established industrial relations practices.
Justice Kissoon urged both the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) to put their “best foot forward” in the process.
In his order yesterday afternoon Justice Kissoon appointed Senior Counsel Edward Luckhoo and Senior Counsel Robin Stoby to be mediators for today’s process which is to be held in the courtroom.
According to Justice Kissoon, the court is hopeful that following the mediation, issues can be addressed which may result in teachers returning to their classrooms with the resumption of teaching as early as next Monday. “We look forward to positive results (today)”, the judge said.
The mediation order followed a deadlock on the streets with teachers from all across the country refusing to back down and the government showing no interest in talks which the GTU had sought. Despite the strike having gone on for weeks, the Ministry of Labour and the Chief Labour Officer showed no interest in enabling conciliation which perhaps provided impetus for the court’s decision yesterday.
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC on behalf of the Ministry of Education yesterday attempted in court to request that both parties meet without mediators, explaining that the duo’s monthly meeting for a multi-year agreement, was to have been held on February 21st.
Stating that the government “obviously” would like a return to normalcy, Nandlall said, “I am asking for an opportunity for the Union and the Ministry to be allowed to resume that engagement on their own accord.”
Nandlall also asked that the two meet “without mediators”, however, Justice Kissoon quickly rejected this, stressing that the mediators will be present.
Counsel for the Guyana Teachers’ Union, Attorney at Law, Darren Wade, said, “We would love to have the mediation as suggested by the court.”
The judge in his order stated that the parties to the proceedings shall engage and participate in “a mediation on Friday the 1st of March, 2024 to be conducted at 9.30 am at the Court 3 of the High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature together with any further sessions as may be deemed appropriate and necessary.”
He said the mediation and sessions will be conducted by the two senior counsel appointed by the court to facilitate the process of dialogue between the two parties “with a view of obtaining a meaningful resolution of the differences that caused the teachers to be away from the institutions and to have a resumption of normalcy of conversation to which the Attorney General alluded.”
He urged the parties to work to arrive at a common platform where “all are satisfied.”
He said, “To have the teachers back in the institutions, to have their concerns addressed, to have a framework in place that will facilitate an ongoing conversation and dialogue that the necessity for industrial action does not arise in the future.”
He then adjourned that aspect of the proceedings as they await a mediation report.
Meanwhile, GTU Presi-dent, Mark Lyte, reported to the court yesterday that the strike has been ongoing for 25 days now.
Contempt
The mediation order followed contempt of court proceedings on Wednesday when Justice Kissoon summoned Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain for the issuing of a memorandum to teachers which was deemed to be contemptuous of an earlier order of the court that no deductions be made from teachers’ salaries pending the hearing of the substantive case brought by the GTU.
The GTU had gone to court after the government had declared that the teachers would not be paid for the days they were on strike and that the deduction of union dues from teachers’ salaries would be stopped.
When the matter came up in court, Justice Kissoon on February 22nd ruled that the Government was barred from deducting monies from striking teachers’ salaries until the GTU’s legal challenge against this move is determined.
During Wednesday’s hearing when Hussain apologised to purge himself of contempt, the judge enquired why the two sides had not met. The GTU immediately said it was ready for talks whereas Nandlall asked for 24 hours to consult his superiors. The matter was adjourned to yesterday afternoon at which point the court made the mediation order.
Governments and the judiciary have long urged that mediation services be utilized as a means of unclogging the courts.
In a statement last night, the government argued that it had done much for the teachers and had been engaged in cordial talks just shortly before the strike was called. The union had however argued that those talks dealt with a variety of issues but not collective bargaining as a whole.
In its statement last night, the government noted the judge’s mediation decision and “the implications such an Order may have as a precedent on industrial relations in the country, more specifically, the settled and well-established legal mechanisms and recourses currently extant for the resolution of those types of disputes, including the Dispute Settlement Agreement between the parties and the procedures set out in the Labour Act, Chap. 98:01. Similar processes have been invoked and employed with success in Guyana, the Caribbean, and indeed, the entire Commonwealth”.
The GTU has however argued that it has been seeking collective bargaining for years under this administration and that the Chief Labour Officer has not been responsive to its appeals.
“The Government wishes to make it abundantly clear that the Ministry of Education has had a long and settled practice of meeting with the Guyana Teachers’ Union on an almost monthly basis, since 11th August 2020. At these meetings, multiple issues relating to the welfare of teachers and the better and more efficient administration of the education sector have been addressed. These include both salaries and non-salary issues and benefits”, the government statement said. It attached a list of some of the measures and decisions which resulted from this process.
“Additionally, and apart from these engagements, the Ministry of Education has implemented another wave of measures and decisions which enure to the benefit of teachers. These measures were unsolicited by the Union and implemented upon the Government’s initiative over the past four (4) years”, it said.
The last of these engagements between the Ministry of Education and Guyana Teachers’ Union, the government said, took place on 31st January 2024.
“That meeting was cordial, courteous and constructive. At the meeting, at least 5 salary-related issues that were on the agenda were addressed. The meeting was adjourned to 21st February 2024 for the parties to continue to engage on those and other issues. At the end of the meeting, there was no evidence whatsoever of any rancour, discord or disagreement between the parties. As a result, the Government was understandably shocked when the Union, a few days after, announced its intention to resort to strike action. The Government wishes to emphasise that at all times, it was and remains, ready and prepared to resume those engagements”, the government statement said.
The main GTU demand was for collective bargaining which the government has not yet acceded to. Instead, President Irfaan Ali has met directly with some teachers – without the union – and made his own announcements of changes in conditions.
“While the Government does not think that judicial intervention was necessary, having regard to the established industrial practices referred to above, the Government will participate in the process with the firm expectation that it will put teachers back into the classrooms, as the Government’s paramount concern always is, and will remain, the best interests and welfare of the Nation’s students”, the government statement added.
The teachers’ strike from February 5th attracted support from all across the country particularly in regions two and six which are seen as supportive of the government. Daily protests were held outside the Education Ministry in Georgetown, other ministries and regional education offices. Parents and children also joined in in the protests.
The industrial action by the teachers saw some schools not operating at all as neither teachers nor children showed up. Some parents stopped sending their children to school out of uncertainty as to what was happening at the schools.
