By: SASE Singh; M.Sc. – Finance, ACCA.
Introduction
The teachers’ strike that swept Guyana these last few weeks has highlighted the potency of the collective power of the teachers. The teachers have punched brutally but directly at the face of the oppressors in their efforts to highlight their “bread and butter” issues without allowing a political charade to take over.
The PNC, for its part, quite hypocritically tried to paint the leadership of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) as PPP agents; but, in the end, the nation saw their call for what it was — an act of delusional desperation.
Why? Historically, since the 1960s, the GTU has always been a PNC political poodle, save and except for these post-2015 days. Is this an example of the pot calling the kettle black?
Historically, the months of September and January are extremely important for teachers. For one, school terms begin then; but, in Guyana’s case, those months represent periods of heightened militancy within the teaching fraternity. In September 1976, seeds were planted by the Corentyne teachers that led to a three-day walkout in protest of the PNC Government rejecting their right to organise and mobilise. At the centre of that strike was a former GDF officer, Mr. Chaitram Singh. Unfortunately, in those days, teachers had little support from the GTU leadership, which comprised nothing else but PNC puppets controlled by their puppet masters at Congress Place.
One must also remember teaching stalwarts like Brenda Do Harris and Bonita Harris, among others; who suffered acts of discrimination by the PNC Government while their GTU leadership stood by and offered zero support. Why? All because, in September 1978, they had the fortitude to protest against the “Kabaka” and his brand of “voodoo” economics, wherein he caused the passage in Parliament of a law to increase the NIS deduction in a period of stagnating salaries, resulting in the “take home” pay of teachers being reduced. Again, the GTU leadership stood with the PNC, rather than with the teachers in those days.
However, Mr Mark Lyte has exposed that he is not a clone of Basil Blair, Jean Persico or Colin Bynoe. He is a thinking millennial, and there is one thing different about millennials: they cogitate, and do not follow blindly. What is clear is that millennials like Mark Lyte have demonstrated that they have more integrity that the entire PNC leadership, comprised of mostly senior citizens put together. So these 2018 strikes sit on the foundation of past greatness, and that is why I was not surprised that more than 50 percent of the teachers downed tools in the final days. That situation caused the oppressors to buckle despite the phantom systems the Minister had concocted in her head, but failed to implement because it was impractical.
When the GTU Leadership called off the strike, after the Government agreed to go to arbitration, I was one of the few who supported them. I offered that support on ground that some good faith needed to be injected into the negotiations, and the stronger party needed to make the first move. Clearly, in this case, the GTU was the stronger force.
Secondly, if the teachers decide to come back on the streets, this time they will need the backing of the parents and the students. This move by Mr Lyte won the hearts and minds of many parents and students. Unfortunately, the Government has failed to reciprocate this good faith.
It was Sun Tzu who said, in the Art of War, “You appear weak when you are strong”. The GTU has now taken the moral high ground, because, when the next strike starts, it will not stop until the cash is in the teachers’ pockets. The GTU did everything in 2018 to accommodate the Government, including recommending three-PNC types (former PNC Ministers Jeffrey Thomas and Rashleigh Jackson, and former contender for the leadership of the PNC, Aubrey Armstrong) to Chair the Arbitration Panel, but Team Granger deemed them all as unfit. It is time to let the chips fall where they must.
Conclusion
The ball is now in Mr. Granger’s court, and that is where the buck stops. From my observation of the GTU’s September 2018 protest, there has been a mental shift in how they are thinking. We can see a change in the dynamics of the teaching fraternity, and there is definitely a change in the balance of power in the education sector. The PNC stepbrother does not have the same level of control over the GTU as he had when Basil Blair, Jean Persico or Colin Bynoe were in charge.
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