– Manickchand says
– As GTU attempts to derail conciliation process with more demands

MINISTER of Education, Priya Manickchand, has said that the government of Guyana will not negotiate terms concerning the conciliation talks with the Guyana Teachers Union under duress.
This was disclosed by the Minister on Wednesday, during a press conference at the Ministry of Education where she provided an update on the conciliation process between the Education Ministry and the GTU which was being mediated by the Ministry of Labour.

The discussions between the parties began officially on Monday and continued the following day. At the end of the first meeting, they deliberated and agreed on three items with just two issues left to be ventilated on the second day.

On the list of things that were agreed upon was that there would be an end of the strike by teachers and full resumption of work by all teachers within 48 hours, that there would be no victimisation by either party and that there would be no break in service and the status quo ante shall prevail.

At that time, Manickchand indicated that both parties were asked to keep the contents of the ongoing meetings confidential to maintain trust among the parties and to show good faith in the process.
“The ministry was optimistic that there would be a signed resumption agreement and that conciliation would commence,” the education minister said.

Continuing to chronicle the chronological order of events, the minister said that the meeting continued on Tuesday and discussions commenced on the other two options that were left from the previous day, as she indicated the ministry was hopeful that an agreement would be signed.

Shocked and Appalled
Minister Manickchand went on to add, “After a day and a half of negotiations, suddenly the GTU then presented a two-page document dated 13th May 2024 which included a list of demands to be met before the resumption agreement could be signed. The ministry was shocked.”

Included in this list of demands was that the Ministry should make an interim 20 per cent across-the-board payment immediately before any conciliation regarding the timeframe can commence.
The union further demanded that the Minister of Labour recuse himself from the negotiation process among other things.
As a result, the meeting was adjourned with a next date set for Monday, May 20th.

Subsequently, it was noted that, on Wednesday, the ministry was appalled to see a release which detailed the contents discussed in the meeting though the Chief Labour Officer was clear on the importance of confidentiality and good faith in the negotiation process.

This, Manickchand said, made it clear that there is no interest on the part of the GTU to engage in conciliation with a view to resolving the issues as catered for in the grievance procedure in the 1990 Memorandum of Agreement.
She added, “Nowhere in the world would it be considered normal for negotiations to happen under duress. The GTU’s insistence that an across-the-board 20 per cent be paid before any talks can happen is in fact duress.”

Against this backdrop, the minister highlighted that given the union’s many years as a trade union body, they must know that this would be an unusual, unacceptable and unreasonable move that would result in the breakdown of talks.
“It is clear then that teachers’ welfare is not the paramount consideration for the Guyana Teachers’ Union.

Teachers are being used as pawns in a much larger, politically directed plot. This is destructive and sad,” the minister expressed.
She reiterated that given the fact that they know that this is not how industrial relations happen, the only conclusion could be that they intended to derail the process and did not intend to have any conciliation.

Meanwhile, as Manickchand stated, the move seemed to be one intended to be disruptive to the education sector. She was asked, during the conference, where she saw the upcoming meeting on Monday will be heading and she indicated that it was difficult to say.

She added, “What I can say is the Government is not going to sit at a table with these kinds of unreasonable demands and accede to them. It will be very very bad precedent not only for the Guyana Government but for governments across the region if we were to allow this to happen.”

However, Manickchand indicated that there is still space for the union to return to the table on Monday as agreed and come back to a reasonable place which would be in keeping with how industrial relations usually proceed.
“I hope that the sane members of that union body could take the union back and bring it to that place so that on Monday we end up with a resolution and a conciliation agreement where we go to the table and engage in the conciliation process; if that breaks down then there’s a place for that arbitration. But it hasn’t broken down; this is a derailment of that,” she said.