A whole lotta parents across Mudland breathed a collective sigh of relief at yesterday’s headlines: “Strike Over!!”; “Teachers strike called off”; “GTU calls off strike”!
Monday had marked the beginning of the fifth week of the strike, and anxiety over students not being able to complete their syllabuses in time for exams in a couple of months was destroying domestic bliss! Most kids had stayed away from school, and were (hopefully) swotting away on their own! The only persons who might be disappointed at the end of the strike are probably the commuters across the DHB, who had gotten some relief from the smaller number of school buses crossing!!
Now, your Eyewitness had signalled that it’s quite possible the strike might resume, since all that had been agreed to by the GTU is that teachers would resume teaching today, and talks between them and the Govt would resume. So, your Eyewitness wasn’t surprised when Pressie’s response to the news was, “Same thing I was saying all along”!! We’re back right where we started, innit?? The GTU, however, claims the Govt hadn’t been talking to them before, and that’s why they struck. That “he seh she seh” had gone down to last week, when the GTU dared the Education CEO to produce minutes that would show salaries were being discussed!!
Now, we can see the trust between the two sides just wasn’t there. So, what’s changed?? Well, for one, we had the two court-appointed mediators to break up any fight, keep tabs on what was being said, and keep the discussion going. But most critical was the GTU General Secretary – and PNC’s MP, Coretta Mc Donald – being dropped from the teachers’ delegation!! Now, of course, our Constitution guarantees freedom of association, and the GTU General Secretary can belong to any party she chooses. But since the PNC’s attempted rigging of the 2020 elections, she’d become a lightning rod by viscerally going after the PPP!!
It was very difficult to separate the political from the labour hats she wore when she ventilated on the teachers’ strike. The PPP – especially their more political operatives, like their Minister of Education – with their historic scars of being overthrown on several occasions under cover of labour strikes, were understandably skittish around her. Let’s see if they’ll continue to remain outside the bargaining teams.
Will the disagreements remain centred on substantive matters, like the 25% increase being demanded by the GTU; and will it be accepted by the Government?!! Will the Government go beyond the 6.5% and stress other benefits, like house lots, etc?? Will the Govt deduct salaries for time on strike??
And most importantly, will they quit deducting dues for the GTU – ensuring the death knell of the latter?!!
…by Judge’s Intervention
After the PNC’s last rigging attempt, Caricom was asked to send electoral experts to supervise a ballot recount. Two of them wrote an analysis describing the “judicialization” of our politics: the latter’s so divisive that, even with elaborate rules, the politicians gotta resort to the Judiciary to resolve the least disagreement!! Who woulda thought deciding whether 33 was the “majority” of 65 had to go to the
CCJ??!! Not those eminent jurists!!
Now it looks like the same thing’s happening in labour relations; but maybe that shouldn’t be too surprising, since, as signalled above, labour is often used as a trope for politics!! So, now that the court has utilized the new Rule, that “alternative dispute settlement” mechanisms like mediation can be ordered, the legal fraternity’s engaged in a veritable feeding frenzy on the technicalities of the Judge’s intervention.
Was the wider issue of breakdown in talks really in front of him?? Can he substantively order the Govt not to deduct dues going forward?? Etc…etc!!
…on CIVIL Servants
It wasn’t for nothing the CIVIL Service was renamed “PUBLIC” Service. Civil they certainly ain’t no mo, after the departure of the Brits!! The GPSU Credit Union’s bedlam pulling after their elections merely exposed their dirty underwear!!
