The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) Tuesday said that negotiations over salary increases for its members with the Ministry of Education have collapsed after government refused to consider the 2019-2023 proposed multi-year agreement.
“Talks have collapsed because, as it is, there is no plan for a future meeting,” GTU President Dr Mark Lyte said, adding that for the first time the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education attended the negotiations and informing the parties that the government did not budget for salary increases for those years.
But in a statement, the Ministry of Education, claimed that the union representatives had abandoned the talks and “walking out of the meeting.”
The meeting was chaired by Permanent Secretary of the Education Ministry, Shannielle Hoosein-Outar who upheld the Government’s position that discussions surrounding salary increases should be from 2024 onwards.
She explained that increases for the prior years would have financial implications, and that the 2024 budget does not have the fiscal space to accommodate the retroactive payment of salaries for teachers during the period 2019 – 2023.
“Mrs Hoosein-Outar asked the Union’s representatives to submit to the Ministry a proposal which would capture their request for a multiyear agreement commencing 2024.”
Lyte said the Ministry of Education has asked the GTU to submit a multi-year proposal from 2024 going forward and that the union would be seeking legal advice to return to court or to file a fresh case.
He said another option open to the union is to refer the salary dispute to arbitration.
“That would be the best recourse at this time for the matter to be sent to arbitration, providing that it is agreed on,” he said, adding “we have decided that our members are going to utilise the means that is possible to show the administration that we will not be bullied in any negotiation or discussion.
The GTU-Ministry of Education Collective Bargaining Agreement provides that both sides must agree to go to arbitration.
Last Thursday, the Ministry of Education in a statement said some of the matters identified for discussion by the GTU are the salary matters included in the multi-year proposal 2019-2023, the two per cent difference in salary for 2017 and 2018, clothing allowance increase and Whitley Council being paid every three years
It had also identified for discussion teacher absenteeism and punctuality, poor performing schools, continuous professional education, and completion of syllabus.
The GTU is seeking a 25 per cent salary increase for 2019 and a 20 per cent wage hike for each of the years from 2020 to 2023.
The collective bargaining between the GTU and the Education Ministry is in keeping with a High Court-ordered mediation agreement that led to the end of a 29-day nationwide strike by teachers.
