Many teachers countrywide boycott GTU’s strike, protest

– Teachers locked out of school by headteachers – MoE
– GTU prepared to meet with Govt over teachers’ salaries, other benefits

By Rupa Seenaraine

Many teachers across the country turned up to work on Monday, boycotting the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) call for them to strike. The GTU had called for teachers to down tools to protest the Government’s imposition of a 6.5 per cent increase in salary and other benefits.
Despite the call for strike action, the Ministry of Education (MoE), in an issued statement on Monday, related that many teachers nationwide have refused to participate in the industrial action to ensure students were prepared for the upcoming National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams.

“Despite this, classes are ongoing at various secondary schools, including Tutorial High, Bishops’ High, Campbellville Secondary, Bartica, West Demerara, and Vreed-en-Hoop. Classrooms are also in operation at Diamond-Grove Primary, Bel Air Primary, Bethany Primary, St Ignatius Primary, Karamat Primary, FE Pollard Primary, St Stephen’s Primary, 72 Miles, and Stella Maris Primary, among others,” the MoE stated.
It has since urged teachers, parents, and guardians to promptly report acts of threats and intimidation associated with the GTU strike.
In addition, the Ministry stated that based on reports received, some schools have been locked by the headteachers, and several teachers were denied entry when they turned up for work.

The Ministry stated, “Closing of school is the responsibility of the Chief Education Officer – not a headteacher or a representative from the GTU.” It warns that any headteacher found to have breached these rules would be held accountable and would be recommended to the Teaching Service Commission (TSC)/School Board Secretariat for disciplinary action.
Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton made it clear last week that his Ministry would not recognise any strike organised by the GTU.
During that time, Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain had pointed out that since the Labour Ministry, as well as experts on the issue, has advised that conditions for strike action have not been met, any such industrial action would be wholly illegal and unlawful.

Strike
However, led by the GTU, scores of teachers countrywide initiated strike action on Monday in protest for better pay, highlighting that this has been a burning issue since 2019.
While non-salary issues are being addressed, the Union said it was prepared to meet with the Government, particularly the Education Ministry, at any time to settle the issue of salary and to have a Collective Bargaining Agreement in place.
In front of the Education Ministry’s Brickdam office, officials of the GTU and hundreds of teachers held placards, demanding that their salaries be raised. Countrywide, these actions were repeated.
While public servants were given a 6.5 per cent wage increase last year, which teachers benefited from, they are demanding more. The general contention is that measures announced by the Education Ministry, such as the classroom grants, do not benefit them individually.
GTU Treasurer Sumanta Alleyne admitted that while non-salary issues were being looked at, the issue of salary increases has been placed on the back burner.
“Everything that we are looking at is salary. The non-salary issues are being addressed, but the salary issues are still there facing us and that has been since 2019…We are not satisfied that we were only given just 6.5 per cent. We are demanding the Collective Bargaining Agreement, so we are hoping that we will be called. We are fully prepared for any meeting at any time.”
The GTU had initially shared that the protest would last for two weeks, culminating on February 16.
GTU President Mark Lyte responded to the question of teachers being penalised given that the Ministry has deemed the strike illegal, positing that their support base would persevere in these protest actions until there was a response from the Ministry.
“There is always a threat that they will cut your pay by the employer whenever there is a strike, whether they deem it illegal or not. So, we are not going to be backing off because of that. Our teachers are prepared to go the long haul, even if their salaries are cut.”
At that point, he indicated that there was no word from the Ministry. In addition, GTU General Secretary Coretta Mc Donald said they were prepared to compensate teachers who lost money while on the protest lines.
She told media operatives, “If they don’t meet with the teachers and the Union, then our teachers will decide how we take it from there.”

Measures
Previously, the GTU had proposed 41 areas identified for better working conditions for teachers. Over the three years, the Education Ministry has fulfilled 25 of these requests.
The areas in which the Ministry and the Union have not reached an agreement include salary increases for some scales (MoE has gone above GTU’s request for some scales); allowances; rehired teachers paid at the scale that they retired at; housing fund (which the Union has repeatedly failed to give a way forward for, although the fund has a few hundred million dollars put there by the Government); salary scales for different Heads of Department and Sixth Form Deputy Heads; payment for the marking of School-Based Assessments (SBAs), and house lots for teachers in each new housing scheme.
Moreover, 12 unresolved issues are currently being examined for their practical implementation and sustainability.
The Education Ministry has taken several actions to simplify the teaching process while reducing the burdens of being a teacher – all of which are outside of the GTU’s requests.
Among these interventions are: the removal of the Child Development Index Card (CDIC) as a required school document; the removal of the General Scheme of Work as a curriculum document; the elimination of daily lesson plans; all trained teachers being eligible to be a Senior Assistant Master/Mistress after six years; 50 duty-free vehicles for teachers per year and duty-free concessions to all senior teachers who have three years left to serve and termly grants to purchase teaching materials.
In addition, the Education Ministry requested the TSC and the School Board Secretariat to do two senior promotion cycles per year, so that more teachers can be promoted and earn higher salaries.
Other interventions include a general waiver letter to allow teachers to travel abroad without collateral; the issuance of one waiver letter to cover the teacher’s contracted period; the holders of the Technical Teachers’ Certificate being appointed as Assistant Master/Mistress; the creation of more senior vacancies in nursery, primary and secondary schools; the reduction in teaching periods for secondary teachers; the assignment of an assistant teacher to senior teachers in primary and nursery schools; the appointment of floating teachers to schools to reduce the workload and substitute for absent teachers; and the implementation of the Education Management Information System (EMIS), which would eliminate most aspects of manual record keeping.