Jagdeo denounces Opposition’s attempts to “sabotage” GTU/MOE 27% salary increase deal

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has rebuked blatant attempts by the PNC-led Opposition to sabotage the recent deal between the Government and the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) on the 2024-2026 multi-year agreement, which will see teachers earning as much as a 27 per cent increase in their salary over the period.
Following over 70 days of industrial action earlier this year, weeks-long negotiations wrapped up on Wednesday as the Education Ministry and the GTU signed the new multi-year agreement for salary increases and other benefits for teachers across the country.
However, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo said this was not achieved without efforts by the Opposition to undermine the process.
In fact, he reiterated his earlier position that GTU’s General Secretary Coretta McDonald was politically motivated to thwarted the negotiations.
“I said last week that she will continue to get instructions from Congress Place (the headquarters of the People’s National Congress – the largest party in the parliamentary opposition] and try to sabotage the agreement and us moving forward ‘cause her concern is not the teachers of the country and you can see that.”
“APNU confirmed that they didn’t want an agreement forward. They wanted the industrial unrest and the bad blood to continue because they felt it would serve politically. They don’t care about teachers… So, they confirmed that Coretta McDonald is the conduit to sabotage the agreement,” Jagdeo posited.
Under the new 2024-2026 multi-year agreement, teachers will benefit from a 10 per cent for 2024, 8 per cent for 2025 and nine per cent for 2026 in salary increases – a total of 27 per cent in increases during the three-year period.
This is in addition to a host of other non-salary benefits for teachers including special housing and scholarship initiatives.
However, the Opposition has called the agreed salary increased insulting to teachers.

Beyond a 10 per cent
But the Vice President pointed out that the opposition’s criticism of the deal does not take the entire package into consideration but rather, focuses merely on the 10 per cent for 2024. In the same breath, he stated that even the 10 per cent increase for this year is better than what the People’s National Congress (PNC)-led A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Coalition regime offered during their five years in office.
“APNU never went beyond 10 per cent,” Jagdeo pointed out.
He explained that during those five years, only those earning under $99,000 per month benefitted from the maximum 10 per cent increase, while others were getting a pay hike based on a sliding between 0.5 to 9 per cent.
“In no year, did they go beyond a 10 per cent [salary increase for teacher but now] they’re saying a 10 per cent is insulting,” the Vice President argued.
Moreover, Jagdeo highlighted that the wage bill for teachers under the Coalition Administration was approximately $15 billion annually and with a maximum 10 per cent increase, then teachers would have benefitted from $1.5 billion in salary increases.
In comparison, the Vice President outlined the current wage bill for teachers, following various interventions including adjustments to the salary scales and the recruitment of more teachers by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government, is some $40 billion per year. Therefore, a 10 per cent increase now would amount to $4 billion, which according to Jagdeo, is much more than what the Coalition would have paid out during their tenure.
“[That is] $2.5 billion more per year than them. And if they found our 10 per cent insulting, how much more insulting was their 10 per cent which was the maximum wage increase throughout all the years they were in office,” he noted.
The new multi-year agreement was signed by GTU President Mark Lyte and the union’s second Vice President Julian Cambridge. Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain and the Education Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Shannielle Hoosein-Outar inked the deal on behalf of the ministry.
However, the GTU’s General Secretary has publicly criticised the two union officials, 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 – something which the GTU President has since rubbished.
“Absolute rubbish! Absolute rubbish! How would you be in consort with the government, take them to the court, fight them tooth and nail all these months and be in consort with government? That’s absolute nonsense!” Lyte told local news agency, Demerara Waves Online.
The GTU President further explained, in his response, that the union’s General Council agreed to accept the government’s offer and that decision can only be overturned by a special conference of the membership – something which he said McDonald failed to highlight.
Lyte further told the online news agency that he had not received any request from any GTU member asking for such a conference to be held.
According to VP Jagdeo, this explanation by the GTU President is “…exposing Coretta McDonald and her PNC plot to sabotage this [multi-year] agreement…”
Aside from the agreed 27 per cent salary increases over the three-year period, teachers will also benefit from pay hikes for public servants.
In fact, President Dr Irfaan Ali on Wednesday explained that there is an adjustable clause in the agreement inked by the Education and the GTU, which stipulates that if a higher percentage increase is announced for the general public service, teachers will also benefit from the difference. (G8)