Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday accused Coretta McDonald of sabotaging the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) deal. According to him, the union had made a council decision but McDonald, pushing the opposition’s agenda of not wanting the matter settled, swooped in and outed the deal.
Earlier this week the GTU rejected the government’s multi-year package for teachers, which included a 10% pay hike for this year, 9% for 2025, and 8% for 2026 along with a commitment to match increases in public service pay increases, if those are higher.
McDonald, General Secretary of the GTU, confirmed that the union had officially rejected the government’s offer, describing the proposed package as “not good for all teachers,” highlighting significant dissatisfaction with the offer.
However, at his weekly press conference, Jagdeo highlighted that the government spends nearly $40 billion on wages and salaries for teachers per year. He stated that the government’s proposal “works out to… about $4 billion, the 10% and over the three years when you look at it cumulatively that will be about maybe just over 12%… And it would be about $12 billion, the offer for the three-year package to increase wages and salaries alone.”
Stating that the government wanted to work “collaboratively” with the GTU, Jagdeo claimed that the council had made a decision as “many of the sober heads, the sensible heads in the union see a great attempt to address the concerns of teachers; couldn’t go back in the past but we are making a dedicated effort to do this and they agreed to the package. Coretta Mc Donald wants to delay this for political reasons.”
He then stated that he was disappointed in recent reporting by this publication. “… The Stabroek News in this instance did not reflect that the general council of the union had made a decision to accept this offer and Coretta McDonald, taking instructions from Congress Place, went and sabotaged this, [and] worked up people,” Jagdeo stated.
This newspaper had reported that in a recent message to teachers, President of the union Mark Lyte, who was absent from Wednesday’s meeting when the offer was rejected, outlined a potential agreement involving 10%, 9% and 8% increases over three years, with a provision for adjustments based on public sector pay rates. He emphasized the need for a swift resolution to roll out benefits by September and urged members to participate in upcoming regional and branch meetings.
The message however, was met with frustration by some teachers, who took to social media to express their dissatisfaction with the proposed increases. Member Melicia Murray criticized the outcome as inadequate, questioning the transparency and rationale behind the 10% offer after a prolonged strike for collective bargaining with the government.
Earlier negotiations had included a 7% increase proposal, which the GTU had rejected. Subsequent meetings between the GTU and the Ministry of Education addressed several key issues, though full agreement had yet to be reached.
Lyte urged members to remain cautious of unverified information and assured that both parties are committed to issuing a joint statement once a resolution is achieved.
Meanwhile, the PNCR in a statement said it supported the GTU and all teachers in rejecting the government’s “insulting proposal of 10% salary increase for 2024, 8% for 2025, and 9% for 2026.”
According to the party, Jagdeo’s claim that the union’s rejection resulted from McDonald’s attempts to derail the union politically was hypocritical and comical. “It is the same Jagdeo in 2018 who, as opposition leader, stated that teachers should be given 40% – 50% salary increases for the year. Now that the PPP is in government, with access to vast oil resources, its hypocrisy is on full display in its treatment of the nation’s teachers with its meaningless proposals of 8% – 10% salary increases,” the PNCR said.
“Any sober and fair-minded Guyanese will realise that the PPP would much rather feed corruption than add value to the lives of our teachers as the cost of living has skyrocketed far beyond what a mere 10% can compensate [for]. We therefore believe that GTU’s counter-offer is reasonable and affordable.”
It added that the PNCR “as the next government, will ensure that the teachers receive compensation retroactively and that all public servants enjoy livable wages across the board.”
Meanwhile, Jagdeo on Thursday also argued that McDonald was “illegally in parliament”. According to him, “she should not be the general secretary of the union because the union’s rules, their own rules said that you cannot be the general secretary of the union and be a member of parliament… She has ignored her own union’s rule.”
Jagdeo stressed that McDonald should not be quoted as the “definitive voice” of the union.
Earlier this year, teachers engaged in two separate strike periods totaling 75 days, which included legal actions, mediation, and conciliation efforts. A landmark decision by Justice Sandil Kissoon supported the union’s position on the legality of the strikes, which had severely impacted the education system and led to the cancellation of end-of-term exams.
