President Ali is listening to teachers, while their union continues to be tone-deaf

The people’s president spent the day on Monday, October 2, engaging teachers from across Guyana. From far and near, teachers had a cordial discourse with their president, and concrete steps were taken to improve working conditions for teachers. This engagement made teachers happy. Parents from across Guyana believe this kind of engagement would result in their own children benefitting from teachers who are strengthened in their belief that they are valued.
President Irfaan Ali met with teachers from across the country at State House to discuss what the Government could do to improve their working conditions. No one can doubt the President’s sincerity in improving the lot of teachers and public servants in general. Under President Ali, teachers have benefitted from salary increases generally bigger than they are accustomed to receiving since the Teachers’ Union negotiated a deal when President Bharrat Jagdeo was in office. But President Ali himself has said that his Government wants teachers and all public servants to benefit from better salaries and working conditions. The problem has been the unions representing teachers and public servants.
The unions approach negotiation with the Government with outlandish demands, and have shown no readiness to sit down and negotiate in good faith. We hear union leaders talking about untenable 100% pay increases and other incredible demands. Last year, health workers benefitted from adjustments outside of the annual pay increases. Teachers have had adjustments this year to remedy some longstanding anomalies in pay scales amounting to more than $700M, a payment that will be made starting this month.
Since unions have taken an all-or-nothing approach in negotiations, the President has been talking to teachers directly. The face-to-face discourses President Ali has been having with teachers, health workers and other public servants are not designed to diminish the roles of the unions. But, in the face of an impasse with unions, resulting from an overall unwillingness of unions to negotiate with reasonableness, President Ali has decided that the Government will not remain at a standstill, and that the Government will find ways of improving the conditions of teachers and other public servants.
In the discourse with teachers at State House on October 2, the President announced a programme of support for teachers who want to build their homes, facilitating loans up to $15 million, and providing other support. The teachers requested consideration of increased and additional tax-free allowances, which President Ali agreed to consider. There are many ways teachers can benefit, outside of salary increases. When Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo was President, he had agreed to provide duty-free allowances for vehicles for a number of teachers, permitting the union to decide who would get their duty-free allowance each year. That programme is still in place, but many teachers believe the union has not administered the programme fairly.
The teachers also benefitted from a fund that was established to provide mortgages for teachers. The administration of that programme by the union has created much angst for teachers, and lots of complaints.
President Ali and his Government have consistently engaged unions, but when negotiations are carried out with stakeholders who remain unreasonable and are not inclined to seek ways to find common ground, then such negotiations would get nowhere.
While the PPP Government, because of its working-class credentials, will continue to engage unions, reasonable or not, President Ali has shown a willingness to talk directly to the workers. The State House discourse with teachers is just one more way President Ali has shown his willingness to reach out to citizens directly.
For those who scream that President Ali’s engagement with teachers and other public servants is union-busting, they are the very ones who subscribe to workers being held hostage by their unions. The unwillingness to negotiate better deals with the Government for workers has not benefitted workers. While the President and his Government wait for reasonableness from unions, the President is not willing to be on the sidelines with workers.
The Government is making significant investments in education: the infrastructure has benefitted from major investment; tangible improvements have been seen in the physical structure of schools; there is an injection of new technology. Our teachers must be congratulated for the work they are doing. Today, there is greater equity, as children from across the country make up our top graduates. There are still vast opportunities to lift the standards in rural areas and in the hinterland.
The President has put his stamp on the education sector. He is making it clear that he sees continued success in education and reaching the pinnacle of achievement, with Guyana consolidating its lead role in Caricom, as dependent on the teachers. With little headway in negotiating with the teachers’ union, the President is not giving up. While waiting for a more harmonious relationship with the union, President Ali is ensuring improvement in working conditions is achieved through direct discourses with teachers.
The union should encourage more such direct discourses, not demanding that the President only discuss with the union what more Government can do for teachers. Teachers across Guyana have said that sometimes they think the union is more representing political masters than the teachers. It is for this reason that teachers welcome and cherish the discourses they are having with the President.