…two sides closer to resolution 

President David Granger on Monday convened a meeting with the executive members of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and the Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry, where he said that the two sides are now closer to a resolution than ever before.

According to a release from the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) , the Head of State in an invited comment at the conclusion of the meeting, said that the two sides have found “common ground” and are working towards a favourable outcome.  It is expected, he said, that an announcement will be made by Friday.

“We have had some hiccups but we now seem to be coming to the end of the road. There seems to be wide areas of what I would say common acceptance of what needs to be done. Minister of Education had a long meeting on Friday, October 5 with the Union and… all of the points that were at issue between the two sides were discussed… We have agreed that the two sides would meet again on Wednesday, October 10. The intention is to create a basis for an agreement between the two sides as early as possible, possibly by Friday,” he said.

According to the release , the President noted that it is important for the Government and the Union to work to complete this process since it is aware that the teachers have expectations. He noted that the teachers can be assured that the Government is concerned about the issues raised and is working to address these.

“They are not being ignored or anything. We, of course, expect that the Teachers’ Union consult with its members and the Teachers’ Union expects that we, the Government, consult with the Ministry of Finance. So we have reached a broad area in which, I would say that there is common ground. I don’t want to call it an agreement but we have reached common ground and I think the people of Guyana could look forward to an amicable resolution within days. It is a forward-looking agreement,” the Head of State said.

Monday’s meeting was attended by Chief Education Officer,Marcel Hutson, Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Adele Clarke and Human Resources Manager, Ministry of Education,Jacqueline Simon from the government side.

The GTU was represented by its President,Mark Lyte, General Secretary,Coretta McDonald and other executives.

On October 4, 2018 the GTU said it had given Minister with Responsibility for Labour, Keith Scott, a seven-day ultimatum to rescind his appointment of University of Guyana (UG) Professor, Dr. Leyland Lucas, as Chairman of the arbitration panel.

After receiving no word that this was done, the GTU organised another press conference last Wednesday in collaboration with the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG).

Lyte reaffirmed the GTU’s position for rejecting Lucas, stating that Minister Scott had “appointed” the professor rather than “nominating” him, as the existing agreements outline.

He clarified that the issue at hand is the formation of the arbitration tribunal panel by the GTU and Education Ministry, according to the Memorandum of Agreement signed by both parties on April 10, 1990.