The third day of conciliation between the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour again ended in a stalemate yesterday, with no progress made.
GTU President Mark Lyte expressed disappointment and frustration at the meeting’s outcome, stating that the union has not made any progress and that the day was an unproductive one.
“We’ve wasted two and a half hours today, I would say or a little more than that. So, yes, today was absolutely not a productive day,” Lyte told reporters after the meeting outside the Ministry of Labour’s Brickdam office.
The GTU’s two key demands are an interim payment of 20% across the board, which according to Lyte would provide a safety net for teachers who have taken a stand with the union, and a clear timeline for negotiations. Lyte emphasized that the interim payment is critical to bringing the situation back to normalcy, and that the union is not willing to compromise on this issue. This interim settlement, he noted, would be deducted from any future settlement.
“What it is, is an interim in lieu of the negotiation. So, it’s like an advance, whenever the negotiations are completed, then that advance is then taken into consideration. So, let’s say we got a 20% and the negotiations proved to be 40% then the government will only pay the additional 20%. So that gives a safety net that they are going to be serious about the process,” Lyte explained.
The government, however, has been resistant to the idea of an interim payment. During last Friday’s press conference by the Ministry of Education, Minister Priya Manickchand noted that the union only presented its conditions on the second day of the conciliation meetings. The minister had added that from the date on the documentation, the union would’ve already drafted the conditions from the previous day.
When asked about this, Lyte explained that the Chief Labour Officer brought some consideration to the table, but the union was never given the chance to present theirs.
“Well, the Chief Labour Officer came with some consideration, but it was only fair that GTU put its position on the table too. So that is when we took our position. We were never asked to put our position. We put our position when we thought the time was right,” he said.
1990 Memorandum of Agreement
Meanwhile the Ministry of Education has reiterated its call for the GTU to end its strike and return to normalcy, citing the need to adhere to the 1990 Memorandum of Agreement signed by the two parties.
In a press statement posted to its Facebook page, the MoE stated that the third meeting between the two parties highlighted the need for the GTU to respect the agreement and follow the grievance procedure outlined in the document.
The agreement, it said, which dates back to 1990, outlines the procedure for resolving disputes between the ministry and the union. The last paragraph of section 5, which deals with general questions, specifically states that during the consideration of a dispute, there shall be no strike, stoppage of work, or other forms of interference with the ministry’s operations.
The ministry is insisting that the GTU acts in good faith and honours this agreement, stating that conciliation cannot commence until the strike has ended and a state of normalcy returns.
The ministry ended its statement by reiterating its readiness to work together with the GTU to determine a multi-year agreement from 2024.
The GTU’s president expressed frustration at the lack of progress at the meeting and indicated that there is no scheduled date for another meeting. Nevertheless, he said, the strike will continue.
“Given our experience in the recent past, we can’t compromise… the interim payment is critical to bringing this situation to normalcy,” he said.
