AFC calls on GTU, Govt to return to bargaining table for swift resolution

The Alliance For Change (AFC) has called on the Guyana Government and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) to recommence talks with the intention of resolving salaries and other key matters at the earliest. Talks between these entities arrived at a stalemate this week.
At a press conference on Friday, AFC Chairperson Cathy Hughes said it is expected that both sides would return to the table, even if that means in the presence of the two mediators appointed by Justice Sandil Kissoon.
“We expect the Government to extend information in terms of when next they can meet and come to the table. It is unacceptable that something of this magnitude, that impacts the entire society and all our children, cannot ensure that the two parties sit and come up with some kind of agreement that is acceptable to both parties,” she expressed.
“There have to be options available. The head of the GTU said they are willing to negotiate, so we have to get back to the table…If the two mediators need to return back to the room, then we suggest that that is maybe a next step,” Hughes said.
The court had appointed two mediators to engage the Education Ministry and the GTU, and that had led to the resumption of negotiations last week. The two sides had agreed last week to recommence negotiations on the union’s proposed multi-year agreement covering the period 2019 to 2023.
GTU President Mark Lyte, however, said on Tuesday that talks collapsed after the MoE refused to discuss salaries for 2019 to 2023, and wanted only to deal with increases for 2024.
Government has already said it is unfair for the GTU to request pay hikes for years when teachers were at home during the COVID-19 pandemic; those years are from 2020 to 2022; and that the budget cannot accommodate a retroactive increase that spans several years.
Lyte insisted on Thursday that while the union is available for continued talks with Government, those negotiations have to cover the period outlined in the 2019 to 2023 multi-year proposal. He hinted that the Union would be willing to compromise.
After abandoning Tuesday’s meeting, Lyte indicated during his live broadcast that the GTU would return to the court, since it is believed that the mediation agreement has been breached.
“We are willing to compromise on the years in the multi-year proposal. What that compromise will be is to be fleshed out over the table. The Government has to return to the table to say, ‘We want 2024 and beyond, but we hear you [on] 2019 to 2023’. Come and talk to us! Let’s have a compromise,” he said.
The GTU President has also issued a verbal ultimatum that, if the Government does not indicate before the end of the day that it would return to the table to discuss the 2019 to 2023 multi-year proposal, the union would return to the streets.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand questioned on Wednesday whether it is reasonable to pay salary increases to teachers for 2020 to 2022, when they were at home. She has told reporters that she hopes good sense would prevail in the best interest of the country’s children, and has maintained that there was no breakdown in talks between the MoE and the GTU.