GTU accuses Labour Department of bullish behaviour

Wages/benefits saga
…UG Professor proposed as arbitrator

Another meeting between the Education Ministry and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) was on Tuesday held at the Social Protection Ministry’s Brickdam Office but the stalemate continued as the Union accused the Labour Department of bullying its members into accept University Professor, Leyland Lucas as the Chairman of the arbitration panel. After the meeting, it was disclosed that the Labour

Department proposed Professor Lucas as Chairman of the body which will be tasked with settling the impasse over teachers’ salary increases. The Teachers’ Union and its executives were however not in agreement with the selection as they opted to carry out background checks, having requested Lucas’s Curriculum Vitae (CV).
“What we recognised is that the Minister with responsibility for Labour is trying to bully this process into saying to the GTU: ‘this is our prerogative to appoint and this is your chairperson and we have done so’ and we are saying to them, we have to do our groundwork. According to documents we have, it says ‘nominate’ so if we are going to nominate, we have to check the meaning of the word,” GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald told reporters.
The GTU executive added that the Union has to see what Professor Lucas is bringing to the table. Junior Social Protection Minister Keith Scott meanwhile said that the proposed arbitrator – Professor Lucas – is highly qualified. It was said that he served as Dean at the University of Guyana’s School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI). Following talks on Tuesday, Scott also denied the GTU’s position of being bullied by the Labour Department into accepting the professor. He added that persons would often use words with which they are comfortable when engaged in a heated discussion.

“If they feel and interpret our obeying the law as bullying, how can I tell them how they must react? It is not for me to comment on the reaction of the union; it is for to ensure that we can present something to the press and people of Guyana that we are doing the right thing,” Scott disclosed.
After GTU’s executives departed, Minister Scott held a private meeting with the proposed arbitrator.
Concerns over the appearance of an absence of neutrality were raised with Chief Labour Officer (CLO) Charles Ogle but he told members of the media that everything done was above board as he denied Lucas’s private engagement with Minister Scott was a ‘secret meeting’.
“It was not secret; we introduced the Chairman to the parties. The agreement says if the two parties disagree, then the Ministry of Labour (Social Protection) will nominate the chairperson,” Ogle said.
When asked about the process of selecting Professor Lucas, the CLO offered media operatives a response of “no further comments”.
The teachers’ strike was first called on August 27 but was called off some two weeks later after both sides agreed on arbitration. Both Ogle and Minister Scott say the panel’s Chairman must come from the Social Protection Ministry. There is another meeting set to continue today at 13:00h where both parties are expected to finalise and sign the Terms of Reference for arbitration. Lucas’s CV will also be assessed during the engagement. Scott said the GTU has to come with their nominee while the Labour and Education Ministries said through a statement that the Education Ministry submitted its nominee but the Union was not willing to submit same.
“Dr Leyland Lucas was introduced by the Ministry of Labour as the Chairman of the arbitration panel. However, the Union requested time to consider the nomination of the chairmanship,” the statement observed. (Shemuel Fanfair)