Whatever the outcome of the internal rumblings in the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), the three-year pact sealed with the government on Wednesday is a victory for constitutionally-enshrined collective bargaining and trade unionism is alive.
The GTU and its members must be congratulated for holding the line on the government in the arduous 75-day strike in two separate periods during which children in public schools and their parents suffered immense dislocation as a result of the government’s recalcitrance.
Very simply, Part 23 (1) of the Trade Union Recognition Act – an historic demand of the PPP – mandates employers thusly: “Where a Trade Union obtains a certificate of recognition for workers comprised in a bargaining unit in accordance with this Part, the employer shall recognise the Union, and the union and the employer shall bargain in good faith and enter into negotiations with each other for the purpose of Collective Bargaining”. This provision was flagrantly violated by the government which refused to discuss everything but wage increases.
Even more importantly, the supreme law of the land, the Constitution, says at Article 147 (3) that neither an employer nor a trade union shall be deprived of the right to enter into collective bargaining agreements.
Ever since the end of the historic public service strike in 1999, successive PPP/C governments beginning with the Jagdeo administration have sought to throttle the right of trade unions to engage in collective bargaining. This resulted in the imposition of annual increments which the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and other unions supinely tolerated.
The GTU to its credit had been far more militant, securing multi-year deals from 2011 to 2015 under the PPP/C and then 2016 to 2018 under the APNU+AFC government, always after industrial action or the threat thereof. The Ali administration presented a different challenge. It was clear that President Ali was intent on diktat – using the bumper oil revenues to dictate how much each sector should have and expecting that the recipients would be eternally grateful to the extent that they would surrender their rights to collective bargaining. How else would one explain his October 2nd 2023 meeting with dozens of teachers from across the country at State House in the absence of their union? How else would one explain his November 9th 2023 announcement of a range of salary adjustments for graduate teachers and enhanced allowances? An outcome that should have been the fruit of negotiations between the union and the government. How else would one explain the December 8, 2023 announcement by the Minister with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh that the government had granted a 6.5% increase across-the-board for public sector workers, teachers and other categories?
President Ali’s government misjudged the resolve of the union. After its lamentations to the Chief Labour Officer were brushed aside, the GTU embarked on a strike in February despite a last-ditch warning by the Ministry of Labour that their action was illegal and in breach of their collective bargaining agreement. The government then wasted no time in deploying the weapons available to it: a threat to subtract strike days from the salaries of teachers and the termination of the deduction of dues on behalf of the GTU. An approach by the GTU to court interdicted these attempts and resulted in a ground-breaking ruling by the High Court that their strike was legal as no evidence was presented to the court of the full expression of collective bargaining. This ruling clearly blunted the government’s offensive and it will be interesting to see if the administration follows through with its court actions on union dues and strike days.
The GTU’s strike was the most effective industrial action for workers’ rights since 1999 against a government which now only affects working class credentials. By their militancy, the teachers and their union have relaid the foundation for collective bargaining and with the burgeoning oil revenues now available to the country, public sector workers now have improved prospects if their unions are up to the task.