By Abigail Headley
The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) yesterday said that plans are underway for an application to the court today following the collapse in collective bargaining talks with the Ministry of Education on Tuesday.
During a telephone interview with Stabroek News (SN) yesterday, GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald stated that the union has already met with their attorney, Darren Wade and he is in the process of filing the court application.
“I can’t confirm whether he did file it…, but he assured us yesterday that he was going to file it… We had to submit to him the minutes and so on from the meeting last Thursday,” she said.
Wade, in turn, told this newspaper late yesterday that he is still in the process of drafting the application and the details of same would be made available sometime today. GTU President Mark Lyte also revealed that the application would be a fresh one from that which is already in court, pending a hearing on March 20. No further details were provided on the nature of the application.
Meanwhile, McDonald noted that the union has spoken with teachers via the various GTU groups across the country and while the teachers are ready to take action over the latest developments, they were reminded by the GTU executives about the court process.
“Teachers are upset all across this country. And they would want to lash out, like now, but we had to say to them, we have to first allow the process of the courts to work, and we will decide which form of strike action… will be best suited”, she said.
Acknowledging that schools will soon be closed for the Easter vacation, McDonald explained that the options for strike action include sit-ins, work-to-rule, and outright protest. On this note she stated that perhaps by today a decision would be made by the union on the way forward, before the school term ends.
McDonald also reiterated the GTU’s position of a lack of trust in the Ministry of Labour to assist in conciliatory talks. The union representative recalled that the ministry was kept abreast on previous matters prior to last month’s industrial action but made no move to bring reconciliation or even reach out to the GTU except to inform them that the strike would be deemed illegal.
“… when the talks broke down between the three-man committee that the President identified; Minister Gail Teixeira, Priya Manickchand, and Sonia Parag; to talk with us, when those talks broke down, we wrote to the Ministry of Labour asking for conciliation. We also sent a correspondence to them after that time would have elapsed, asking for arbitration and they did not respond to us… We have no faith going to talk to the Ministry of Labour, who are supposed to be acting in good faith, and as the mediator. We have no faith in talking with them. Cause they’ve already shown us which side… they’re on,” she stated.
