GTU proposal for increased wages to be submitted next week

The Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) is finalising its submission for another multi-year agreement which is expected to be ready next week.
This is according to the General Secretary of the Union, Coretta McDonald during an interview with Guyana Times on Friday.
She explained that the Union was initially hoping to have that proposal submitted before the end of December 2018, however, because of several reasons, the proposal will be submitted in the new week.
When asked what those reasons were, the General Secretary pointed out that the Union is seeking to have all its members in the country when the document is sent to the Ministry. She also noted the importance of consultation on the figure with

teachers and the executive members of the Union.
President of the Union, Mark Lyte was unreachable when this newspaper made contact with him, nonetheless, Lyte in a recent interview, was reluctant to reveal the percentage that the Union is looking forward to in the new agreement.
He only said that the Union will find ways to justify its proposal.
Things went haywire during the last bargaining process between the two parties which left children in empty classrooms as teachers resorted to the streets, calling for increased salaries.
In fact, it was only last October that the GTU and the Education Ministry came to an agreement with regards to teachers’ salary; an impasse that lasted several weeks.
As the agreement was inked on October 24 for a 12 per cent increase for 2016 and eight per cent for 2018, Lyte said that the Union has learnt its lesson and is looking forward to brokering a better agreement come 2019.
Moreover, the GTU President pointed out that the Union has “learnt so many lessons” and is now better prepared for the next bargaining process with the Education Ministry.
He explained that he believes the agreement made will better satisfy teachers and their families and even result in classrooms being better serviced.
On the other hand, General Secretary of the GTU, during an exclusive interview with this publication, said she believes the Union should have been more diligent in its doings.
She stated, “As a Union we needed to do a little more work, we needed to be a little more diligent in what we were doing, but it’s a learning experience and come 2019 our teachers, if it’s going to be a three year or a five years agreement, our teachers will see many more benefits coming their way”.
“Those teachers who would have felt neglected over the past years and they weren’t being able to gain access to their benefits I want to say to them rest assure GTU has been there for you, we will continue to be there for you and your benefits are intact,” she added.
A 40 per cent salary increase for public school teachers was initially proposed for the year 2016. Over time, the percentage will be increased for all categories of represented teachers. For the year 2017, the Union was hoping to have bargained for a 45 per cent increase, which would then increase to 50 per cent for the remainder of the years indicated in the agreement (2018-2020).