DESPITE schools being closed in March 2020 and teachers being away from the classrooms owing to the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) after resuming negotiations with the Ministry of Education (MoE) called for a 20 per cent wage hike from March 2020-2022, according to People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo.

During a press conference at the party’s headquarters, on Thursday, Dr Jagdeo highlighted this and underscored that the union is expecting this current administration to address what the previous APNU+AFC Government failed to.

“Recently, the teachers’ strike has come to an end and they’re back at the negotiating table and many in this country would be surprised to know that the request before the government is to look at salaries since 2017, since the APNU period in office,” he said.

Dr Jagdeo further said: “And secondly, you know, from about March 2020 to March 2022, the schools were closed for COVID, for about two years, there was a phased reopening…even those years, the COVID years, their request is for 20 per cent increase…when teachers were not working….the majority of the teachers did not have to go into the classroom….”

The union proposed an across-the-board increase of 20 per cent for 2019 and 25 per cent each for every other year despite this being the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a majority of teachers were not in classrooms. Reports show that in 2018, the union agreed to less.

Teachers got 12 per cent (junior) and eight per cent (senior) retroactive increases for 2016, and an eight per cent retroactive increase for 2018.

“So when you talk about fairness, you should look at all of these, all of these variables. I’m not going to talk more about that because the negotiations are going on,” Dr Jagdeo said, adding that the COVID-19 conditions must be considered.
While commenting on the almost five weeks long strike action that was orchestrated by GTU, the PPP General Secretary said it was “premature.”

This is against the backdrop that the union had abandoned talks with the government.
According to a press release from the Education Ministry, on Thursday, the ministry met with representatives of the GTU in its boardroom to continue discussions on relevant matters of interest to both parties.

The Ministry of Education was represented by the Chief Education Officer, Saddam Hussain; Deputy Chief Education Officer- AHED, Marti DeSouza; Deputy Chief Education Officer- Admin, Tiffany Harvey; the Ministry’s Human Resource Manager, Jacqueline Simon; and Kerwin Jacobs, Senior Education Officer.

The union was represented by GTU President Mark Lyte; GTU General Secretary, Coretta McDonald, Mariska Williams, Julian Cambridge, Heathcliff Peters, among others, along with three General Council members.

During the meeting, the GTU and the Education Ministry identified 27 issues to be tabled for discussion. Following this, the two teams agreed on the order in which the matters will be addressed.

The first issue tabled for discussion was the establishment of a Terms of Reference for the meetings.
After deliberations, it was agreed that that there will not be a signed Terms of Reference, however, both parties agreed that at the end of each meeting, two representatives of each negotiation team and two witnesses will sign the minutes. The next meeting is scheduled for March 12, at 09:30 hrs in the ministry’s boardroom.