Salary deduction during strike case: Judge allows GTUC to join court proceedings filed by GTU

The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has been successful in its application to join the legal proceedings filed by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) against the Government of Guyana.
High Court Justice Sandil Kissoon on Wednesday granted the application, filed by Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde on behalf of the GTUC. The GTU last month moved to the court to block the Education Ministry from cutting the salaries of those teachers who had been on strike for the past four weeks, calling for increased pay as well as to reverse a decision made by the MoE to stop deducting union dues from teachers’ salaries and remitting same to the GTU.

In a statement, Forde said Justice Kissoon has rejected the contention of Darshan Ramdhani, K.C., who appeared on behalf of the Attorney General of Guyana, that the GTUC ought not to be joined, since it did not have any legal interest in the proceedings and could not make any useful contribution to the case.
Forde argued that the GTUC has a legitimate and sufficient interest in the legal proceedings which were filed by the Guyana Teachers Union; and Justice Sandil Kissoon was of the view that the Notice of Application and the Affidavit in Support of the GTUC had detailed its interest, and that the GTUC ought not to be regarded as a meddlesome busybody.
In its Affidavit in Support of the Notice of Application, the GTUC said it is the largest umbrella organisation of trade unions in Guyana, with a membership of 14 trade unions. The GTUC said it is also required by law to engage in the process of collective bargaining with employers, including the Government of Guyana in its capacity as an employer.
The GTUC contended that the legal issues raised in the case filed by the GTU would involve the examination of the nature of and extent of the Constitutional fundamental Rights of Association and Assembly, property, and the Constitutional Rights of Trade Unions to enter into Collective Agreements and for their workers to strike.

Consequently, it noted that the determination of these significant and important legal issues would impact the operations of each of the constituent members of the GTUC, and the rights of the approximately 27,000 employees who are members of the unions under the Guyana Trades Union Congress.
The Guyana Teachers Union had, for more than four weeks, been engaged in countrywide strike action for increased salaries for teachers. Last week, Justice Kissoon appointed two mediators in the persons of Senior Counsel Edward Luckhoo and Senior Counsel Robin Stoby to engage the Education Ministry and the GTU with the aim of finding a solution to end the impasse.
Earlier this week, the two parties reached an agreement for teachers to return to their classrooms by March 6, and for talks to continue between the GTU and the MoE.
The Education Ministry has said it is aiming to have constructive engagements with the GTU when they meet today on a series of issues, including increased salaries for teachers.
In a statement issued after the mediation had concluded, the Education Ministry disclosed, “The Ministry of Education welcomes this decision, even as it notes that it is unfortunate that this matter had to be determined by the court, where the outcome mirrors exactly what the Ministry has been saying even before the strike began: that the Ministry is happy to continue with the healthy and constructive conversations that have been ongoing, and which have produced several noteworthy results that ensured to the benefit of teachers.”
It has been added that both parties would meet at the MoE boardroom within 48 hours of the resumption of duties to discuss relevant matters of interest.
GTU President Mark Lyte had told media operatives that financial matters are foremost on the agenda to be ventilated. 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 those requests. The areas in which the MoE and the GTU have not reached an agreement include: salary increases for some scales (MoE has gone above GTU’s request for some scales); allowances; rehired teachers being 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 HoDs and Sixth Form Deputy Heads; payment for the marking of SBAs; and house lots for teachers in each new housing scheme. (G8)