Back to the table
Guyana Teacher’s Union (GTU) President Mark Lyte speaks to the media on the union’s engagement with the Ministry of Education.
Guyana Teacher’s Union (GTU) President Mark Lyte speaks to the media on the union’s engagement with the Ministry of Education.

…GTU, Ministry of Education for further talks on teachers’ salaries
…Min Scott warns against proposed strike action

THE Guyana Teacher’s Union (GTU) has accepted the Education Ministry’s invitation for an additional meeting to iron out previous unresolved issues regarding the teachers’ multi-year agreement even as Junior Minister of Social Protection, Keith Scott, warns the union against strike action.

The invitation for such was presented to the union on Tuesday. However, on Wednesday when GTU President Mark Lyte spoke to the media, he said that the union was not too keen to do so until a justification was provided.

“The union, having looked at the content of that letter, would need to seek some clarity from the minister before we agree what is it we’re coming to talk about. We already know what we proposed, what was accepted and recommended by the task force….what is being put to the table has no bearing as to what was discussed in the task force, so why did we meet in the task force in the first place?” he had questioned.

Lyte added that these are unknowns which caused the GTU to be skeptical about returning to the negotiating table. As such, the union penned a letter to the Education Ministry on Wednesday and, after receiving clarification, Lyte confirmed with the Guyana Chronicle that the union would be attending the meeting today, scheduled for 14:00hrs.

The Education Ministry in a press invitation on Wednesday stated: “The Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teachers Union will be meeting at 14:00hrs tomorrow, Thursday 16th Augus, 2018, to have further talks with a view of arriving at an amicable resolution to the teachers multi-year agreement. The meeting will be held in the MoE, 26 Brickdam boardroom.”

Prior to the new unfolding, on August 10, the GTU sent a formal letter to the Ministries of Education and Social Protection about a planned country-wide strike on August 27, expected to span a period of two weeks.

In response on August 15, Scott, whose portfolio has responsibility for labour, responded to the union in a letter stating that their planned “industrial action”, though welcomed, may very well be invalid.

“While your notification of contemplated ‘industrial action’ is welcomed, the path you have chosen to follow may be an incorrect one which may very well render your ‘steps’ illegal, null and void…for a strike notice to be valid and effective, it must be issued directly to an employer who is deemed to be a ‘property party’
“I don’t think that the ‘Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection’ can be properly defined as the employer or a property party in the instant case,” Scott stated.
He went on to express that he found the threat of strike action to be “premature and to be an absolute breach of faith” after the union had expressed interests in follow up meetings at the last shared dialogue.

“Throughout the meeting and more so towards the end thereof, you expressed a willingness to continue dialogue and at no time indicated that your union was contemplating industrial action, which as you are aware, ought to be [in] conformity with an establish grievance procedure,” Scott stated, further adding: “In keeping with good industrial relation practices, you are kindly requested to lodge a copy of the Recognition Agreement subsisting between your union and the Ministry of Education with the Office of the Chief Labour Officer.”

In encouraging the union to embrace the option of cordial discussions, Scott went on to state that “prudent industrial relations practices dictate that negotiations should not be conducted in an atmosphere of duress”.

The disagreements between the ministry and the GTU, which comprises teachers across Guyana, arose following what the union refers to as failed talks between the two parties. At their last meeting, the two sides agreed to some recommendations while others were not agreed upon and a few were retracted by the union.

Areas which saw mutual agreements include duty free concessions for teachers; housing issues to be considered in the position paper for the revolving loan fund; payment of the Whitley Council leave allowance and several others. One of the main issues, though, which remain on the negotiating table is salary and debunching for which the Government has proposed a ball park figure of $200 million for debunching in 2018 and $700 million for salary. However, the union had disagreed on this counter proposal, instead suggesting that it be retroactive.

Minister of Education, Ms. Nicolette Henry on Tuesday had said talks with GTU held last Thursday were not concluded but rather, some aspects of the union’s terms were agreed and a decision was taken for another meeting to be held to iron out the outstanding issues. She noted that the government remains committed to paying teachers their increases.
In an invited comment with the Ministry of the Presidency’s Public Information and Press Services Unit, Minister Henry said that coming out of last week’s meeting, the two sides agreed to some recommendations, but noted that some could not be agreed, while others were completely withdrawn by the union.

“I want to point out that some were agreed on in part, because it required much more than one area. For instance, [on] the issue related to duty-free concessions, we agreed entirely on what was proposed; when it came to the issue of housing and the revolving fund, we agreed also. However, [on] the issue of salary and debunching, we did not agree on [sic] at all [since] the government proposed a ball park figure. In the case of debunching, we are looking at $200 million to address debunching for the year 2018. The union suggested that they believe that it should be retroactive and therefore they were not in agreement with looking at just 2018. In addition to that, the issue of salary also for which we had allocated the sum of $700 million, they felt that should also be retroactive,” she explained.
Minister Henry said given the difference of opinions and the number of issues that had to be addressed, the union and the government’s side “agreed in principle that we will meet subsequently to address the issues that were not resolved at that first meeting. So, my understanding and at least the agreement that came out of that meeting is that we will meet subsequently; and it is my intention to invite the union to continue to have meetings as was agreed [to] at our initial meeting.”

The Education Minister further explained that the reason the government’s side proposed a ball park figure had to do specifically with the process involved in debunching and salary increases. She noted that the union was asking for a 40 per cent increase across the board, which the ministry felt would have further compounded the issue related to debunching.

“So we needed to address that issue and so we gave a figure on what is available in terms of financing to address the debunching issue. Once the debunching issue is addressed and teachers in this instance can be categorised and put into scales, then it will give you an opportunity to give what is allocated to salary increases in the respective categories… There is certainly nothing sinister or there is certainly no ulterior motive in awarding the ball park figure, because that did come up in the discussion. I just wanted to provide that clarity, because I believe that teachers and the Guyanese people need to understand what was proposed and why it was proposed,” Minister Henry said.

She said notwithstanding the absence of a multi-year agreement, the government provided salary increases in 2016 and 2017 for teachers in accordance with what was given to public servants. “In order to improve the conditions of teachers, we have taken several decisions. One is that we have offered to provide grants to schools that have science labs. There is the National Endowment for Science and Technology (NEST) programme, which is managed by the Ministry of the Presidency and that is to ensure that the environment the beneficiaries operate in are the best of what we can offer. In addition to that, we have increased stipends for teachers who are in training at the Cyril Potter College of Education by more than 50 per cent. In addition to that, the Remote Area Incentive (RAI) for teachers who work in the hinterland has seen an 80 per cent increase in 2018,” she reminded.

Further to this, Minister Henry said that in an effort to make work less onerous and demanding on teachers, the ministry has been exploring support mechanisms, particularly through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and by strengthening the human resource capacity.

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