Dear Editor,
Following the continuing imbroglio in the GTU pay increase matter, it has to be wondered whether the GTU aided in the collapse of its own position, and by extension case?
A multi-year proposal was submitted up to, and including, 2023. The Government made salary increases (the process used to do this was deemed controversial) for 2021, 2022 and 2023 (there was no increase in 2020, it seems) in various percentage amounts across the public sector, including for teachers. Those increases were accepted each year by teachers, and by extension the union, even though the union was aware that its multi-year proposal remained unaddressed/ unconcluded.
Was there a caveat by the GTU which stated that the increases, while accepted, were partial increases for the respective years, pending salary negotiations, as outlined in the multi-year proposal? In the absence of such an understanding, the salary increases should not have been accepted, and the yearly increases should have been held in abeyance, (escrow account) pending negotiations and final agreement.
The increases paid were accepted as full and final increases by both teachers and union for the years under consideration in the multi-year proposal. On what basis can they now be renegotiated?
How can there be two salary adjustments in a year, when one adjustment was already accepted in full, without reservations?
The union erred when it accepted the yearly increases while knowing full well its proposals were for the same years.
Sincerely,
Shamshun Mohamed
