Dear Editor,
A significant number of Guyanese do not trust the PPP government and are skeptical that the PPP will live up to any negotiations that will positively benefit the teachers. Many Guyanese believe that teachers should continue to strike until the government delivers on their demands.
Over four weeks of sacrifice with slippers on the ground in the burning sun and heavy rains; teachers will return to work today not certain whether talks with the government and union will indeed commence on Friday and if that process will drag out until Budget 2025.
The judiciary had to intervene for the government to be forced to sit down and talk about a livable wage for teachers among other crucial and pressing concerns affecting our nation’s educators. Yes, this is, however, a victory for teachers and they are triumphant in this first round of their struggle and sacrifice, thanks to Guyana’s judicial hero, Justice Sandil Kissoon whose ruling is historic and unprecedented.
The PPP has a history and penchant for disregarding the rule of law and is quite conscious that the power of slippers on the ground was not visibly supported by the proverbial political boots on the ground. The PPP is fully aware that union leaders such as GPSU president Patrick Yarde and some in the TUC are not genuinely up to the task of seriously confronting government to demand that teachers get their dues.
The call for Patrick Yarde to go must now intensify.
Teachers must therefore be prepared to down tools and take to the streets again if there is an inkling of uncertainty as to how long the talks would take before they know if their demands will be favourably met.
The process of the government being forced to talk to the union must not turn out to be a matter of water being poured on the flames of the teachers struggle to indefinitely quell it. Teachers across Guyana must therefore remain alert and ready. No retreat, no surrender. Their demands must be speedily met.
Sincerely,
Norman Browne
Social and Political Activist
