Deduction of union dues case: GTU withdraws contempt proceedings against Govt

The Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) has withdrawn its application for warrants of committal and contempt proceedings filed against several government officials.
The proceedings, filed on August 26, 2025, alleged non-compliance with a judgment and orders issued by Justice Sandil Kissoon on April 19, 2024. The application sought committal warrants against Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh, Regional Executive Officers Donald Gajraj (Region Four), Susannah Saywack (Region Two), Narendra Persaud (Region Six), Sadick Ishmael (Region Five), and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Shannielle Hoosein-Outar.

On September 12, 2025, the Attorney General filed an application to strike out the contempt proceedings. The application argued that the GTU failed to follow mandatory procedures for serving the applications personally on the alleged contemnors, that the proceedings were statute-barred under Section 16 of the Contempt of Court Act as they were filed more than a year after the alleged contempt, and that the proceedings could not be brought against the State without compliance with provisions in the State Liability and Proceedings Act.

At the hearing, a request was made for Justice Kissoon to recuse himself from the matter, given that he had delivered the original ruling. The judge agreed and adjourned the matter pending reassignment by the Chief Justice.
Before reassignment could take place, the GTU formally withdrew and discontinued the proceedings.
The Attorney General appeared in person at the hearings along with a legal team that included King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani, Deputy Solicitor General Shoshanna V. Lall, Principal Legal Advisor Ronetta Prince, and State Counsel Omar Hoppie and Ron Austin.
In 2024, after receiving the written High Court judgement, the Attorney General Chambers filed the challenge in the Appeal Court, seeking “…an order setting aside the whole of the decision of the Honourable Mr. Justice Sandil Kissoon…”
The decision handed down on April 19, 2024 by Justice Kissoon had barred the government from deducting salaries from teachers who were on strike for more than five weeks and more so, from stopping the remittance of union dues to the GTU.
The High Court judge found that any move to deduct or withhold the salaries of those teachers on strike would be “arbitrary, unlawful, unreasonable and unconstitutional.” Similarly, he also ruled that government acted “arbitrarily” when it halted the deduction of union dues from teachers’ salaries.
According to Justice Kissoon, “…the right to strike, like the right to engage in collective bargaining, is firmly embedded in the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed to every citizen of Guyana under the Constitution…”

Frivolous, vexatious
However, the appeal filed by the Attorney General’s Chambers sought a stay of execution of part of the judgment that bars the Education Ministry from discontinuing the remittance of the dues to the Union.
The AG had argued in his grounds of appeal that the High Court Judge “erred and misdirected himself in law when, he having found that the Applicant’s pleadings could not withstand judicial scrutiny, he failed and/or refused to strike out the pleadings as being frivolous, vexatious, and as disclosing no cause of action… erred in law in considering issues which were not properly and adequately pleaded or pleaded at all, and which did not fall to be determined by the Court.”
It added, that the judge also erred “…when he held that the ‘no work no pay’ principle was raised by the pleadings as an issue to be determined” and “… when he found that there is no difference between a right to strike and the freedom to strike, notwithstanding that the Constitution of Guyana, Chap. 1:01 does not provide for a right to strike, rather, the freedom to strike is expressly guaranteed by Article 147 of the Constitution.”
The appeal document further detailed that “The Learned Trial Judge erred and misdirected himself in law when he held that the strike action called by a trade union was ‘justified’, and that the ‘no work no pay’ principle had no applicability, and that the employer was required to pay wages which had not been earned, contrary to and in contravention of the provisions of the Labour Act, Chap. 98:01.”
Another ground in the appeal was that “The Learned Trial Judge erred in law and fact when he found that the Government’s discontinuation of the gratuitous deduction of union dues and the remittance of the same to the Respondent Guyana Teachers Union constituted a direct interference with the Union’s right to collective bargaining as guaranteed by Article 147 of the Constitution.”
The Education Ministry had disclosed that every month, $700 is deducted from each unionised teacher and remitted to the GTU. This adds up to about $3.1 million monthly, and approximately $37 million annually.
Teachers proceeded on strike action twice in 2024 demanding increases in wages and salaries and a multi-year agreement. Talks had broken down on several occasions but finally, the union conceded to the government’s proposal that salary increases for teachers should be determined under a new agreement from the current year onward.
This is the same proposal the Government had made even before the GTU moved to industrial actions.
The GTU was at the time pushing for a backdated collective bargaining agreement. However, the Government, through the Education Ministry has maintained that it is fully prepared to work on a multi-year agreement from 2024 and not 2019 as being initially demanded by the union.
The GTU subsequently recanted and agreed to negotiate from 2022 onwards – a proposal that was also rejected by the Government. The GTU had explained that it presented a proposal covering the period 2024-2026 following consultations with its membership.
As such, bilateral talks between the ministry and the union on the new 2024-2026 multi-year agreement had proceeded and ended in August 2024 with an agreement regarding salary increases and other benefits for educators.
Under the new agreement, teachers will see their salaries rise by 27 per cent by 2026, given that the educators receive a 10 per cent increase on 2024; 8 per cent for 2025 and 9 per cent for 2026.
Notably, there is also an adjustable clause in the agreement, which stipulates that if a higher percentage increase is announced for the general public service, teachers will also benefit from the difference.

Suspended
Following the signing of the multi-year agreement, GTU’s then General Secretary Coretta McDonald had publicly criticized the GTU President and second Vice President, accusing them and other union officers of being in consort with the government and misleading the union’s General Council into believing the deal is more favorable than it is.
Then in December 2024, months after being criticised by Opposition linked elements in the GTU for helping to arrange pay increases for teachers, the then GTU President Mark Lyte and second Vice President Julian Cambridge were suspended from the union.
Based on reports at the time the decision to suspend the two GTU leaders was made during a meeting of the union’s General Council and it reportedly stemmed from the agreement the GTU signed with the government earlier this year, to bring about an end to teachers striking.