Dear Editor,
The headline ‘GTU has new proposal to end strike action’ (KN June 21), suggested the union was armed with a plethora of measures to lay out. Instead it retreated and will allow the agreed 1990 grievance procedure to guide negotiations henceforth, something the other side was calling for all along.
For over several months it stood its ground on its multi-year proposal, even throwing in an interim payment as part of the resumption measures. It did not work.
Now teachers and educators go back to the classrooms, just as they left it, and must wonder about the sacrifices they made these several months.
So did the union bite off more than it could chew and choked in the process, or was it a case of penny wise pound foolish?
One good thing came out of the imbroglio though: bargaining and talking are back on track. Now cool heads in the spirit of compromise and good will must prevail. Best wishes to both sides as conciliation is set to begin.
Yours faithfully,
Shamshun Mohamed
