TEACHERS from the South Georgetown Branch protested against their Union on Monday, complaining about the sloth in them getting promises increase in sslaries and other benefits.

The picketing exercise was held in front of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), Woolford Avenue office. Chairman of the South, Georgetown Branch, Mr. Kerwin Mars, expressed how tired and frustrated the teachers were with the way they are being treated. They believe that their Union is not representing them as they should.

“It’s time the Union comes out and say to teachers, this is what is going on. This is what we have planned. This is what is going to happen… Task force is sitting at Ministry of Finance, what is the Union doing? It is time the Union knows we are fed up of the nonsense,” Mars said.

Meanwhile, in response to the teachers picketing exercise, General Secretary of GTU, Coretta McDonald said the Union had threatened to take industrial action late last year and they were summoned to two meetings, one by the Minister of State, Joseph Harmon and the other by His Excellency, President David Granger. Coming out of the meeting with His Excellency, was the formation of the task force, where the President said he wanted this task force to look into the issues facing the the Union and benefits for its teachers.

The task force was completed in March 2018 and submitted a report to Ministry of Finance who presented that document to the cabinet. “From then to now we have not heard back anything on the way forward. All that we have been hearing is that the document is with the Ministry of Finance,” McDonald related.

She said that the union is doing its part in finding out the status of the document. “It’s not that we’re not doing anything about it, we have been writing and writing and writing, to no avail. We ourselves are frustrated. I hear our teachers cry and we are going to do as we should, to ensure they get what they deserve,” McDonald said.

McDonald also lamented that teachers are retiring year after year and are coming out the system without receiving their benefits. “It is really, really disgusting and frustrating, to say the least, that teachers who have been teaching for 29 and 30 and 35 years, cannot access benefits that are due to them. How long more do we have to wait?

If the Government is not going to say anything to us, then teachers will voice their concerns the best way possible so that somebody can listen to us. So, we will communicate again with the Government to find out what is happening and then our teachers will decide the next step forward,” Ms. Mc Donald said.

In the first week of April, the report with recommendations was handed over to Education Minister Nicolette Henry with a commitment that it will be submitted to Cabinet for consideration. Based on the instructions of President David Granger, the task force was put together last November to address salary negotiations and other issues affecting teachers. The matters addressed included non-salary issues, allowances, de-bunching and matters highlighted during the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the education sector, in addition to the GTU’s Multi-Year Agreement.

The GTU had initially proposed a 40 per cent across-the-board increase for teachers for 2016; 45 per cent increase for last year and 50 per cent for 2018 through 2020 for all categories of teachers. It is unclear, however, what were the percentages put forward in the recommendations.

During the recent Labour Day interaction, the President stated that the recommendations are now with the Finance Ministry. “Right now they are at the Ministry of Finance and I think that might be good place to leave this discussion,” he told reporters. Asked whether there was a time frame within which the Finance Ministry is expected to respond, President Granger, in response said he was unable to say. “No I can’t give you a timeline now. The Ministry of Finance will have to determine the outcome,” he said.

When the recommendations were submitted by the task force, the Education Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Vibert Welch had said that after three months of intense deliberations, a number of favourable recommendations have been tabled.

He opined that the recommendations made in the final report will likely attract more persons to the teaching profession and encourage those who are already in to remain. The permanent secretary had expressed optimism that Cabinet would have looked favourably at the recommendations put forward.

Mark Lyte, President of GTU said after three months of deliberations, members of the GTU are satisfied with the proposals and recommendations made. According to the GTU President, it is important that the work of teachers in the classroom is recognised. Like the PS in the Education Ministry, Lyte said the GTU is anticipating a favourable response.