Even as teachers are set to take to the streets today the Ministry of Education last evening announced that it has written to the Ministry of Labour indicating that there has been a breakdown in negotiations with the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and seeking its intervention.
A meeting is set for the two ministries today at 10:30 am.
According to a release from the Education Ministry late last evening, the letter invited the Labour Ministry to intervene in the matter with the GTU, “indicating that there has been a breakdown in negotiations between the ministry and the GTU regarding the question of which years the new multi-year agreement should address.”
According to the Education Ministry, its request was made pursuant to the provisions of the 1990 Memorandum of Agreement which states that “the avoidance and settlement of disputes” between the Government of Guyana and the Guyana Teachers’ Union and the Labour Act, Cap. 98:01, which allows the impasse in respect of the timeframe to be referred to the Labour Minister for Conciliation.
“The latest decision was taken after the Ministry of Education wrote to the union indicating its readiness and desire to meet immediately or at any time convenient to the union to negotiate a multi-year agreemnt from 2024 onwards but the union responded to say they were prepared only to meet to discuss years 2019 to 2023,” the ministry said.
Last Friday, GTU President Mark Lyte announced that teachers will again take to the streets in protest action against the government for collective bargaining talks as per the union’s initial proposal.
According to Lyte, the teachers will be protesting as part of their strike action.
“We will be very strategic this time around to ensure that there is proper balance between the strike and the protests. We intend, in the new week, to protest for two days and have our teachers rest as necessary. So come Monday, our teachers who are on strike will be protesting at various location of importance, with the hope that we can garner the attention of the administration,” he said last Friday.
The GTU head further acknowledged that some teachers will not participate in the strike action and noted the GTU’s respect of that decision. Earlier this week, the announcement was made that industrial action would recommence from Thursday last and would continue until further notice.
Last month in a major victory for the GTU, Justice Sandil Kissoon ruled that the strike over the absence of collective bargaining was legal and justified.
The judge had delivered a lengthy ruling in which he had said that where there was the legitimate right to strike, when invoked, this did not equate to “no work no pay”.
The GTU had gone to court to challenge the government’s decision to deduct pay from striking teachers and the government’s intention to cease deductions of dues from teachers’ pay in favour of the union.
In that ruling the judge had said that Chief Education Officer (CEO) Saddam Hussain was not frank with the court and his testimony could not be relied upon. He said that the CEO was asked to produce evidence to support allegations made by the state but none was provided.
The government is set to appeal the decision.
