Satiricus had hoped it wouldn’t have come to this. But here it was, teachers were marching up and down in the sun to demand a “living wage”. Satiricus felt for teachers. After all, like most Guyanese who’d completed secondary school, his first job had been as a teacher. As he walked towards the Back Street Bar, he smiled as he remembered he’d started to frequent the joint with his buddies back when he was a teacher!
“Yes!” said Hari enthusiastically – and uncharacteristically – when Satiricus shared the sentiment. He’d also started out as a teacher. “Those were the days!!”
“A’yu right fuh skin yuh teet’,” pointed out Cappo. Back den, ah me an’ Bungi bin gat fuh buy all de drink!”
“Imagine that!!” said Satiricus. “Cane cutters used to earn more than teachers!”
“Budday!! Wha’ yuh mean?” demanded Bungi. “Abee does wuk mo’ hard dan any teacha!”
“But that’s not the point, is it?” asked Hari. “Hard work isn’t only physical work!”
“Damn right!” said Satiricus. “Can you imagine trying to teach classes with thirty and forty children, most of whom didn’t get a proper sleep the night before?”
“Lissen chap,” interjected Cappo. “Me na complain. Me gat two pickney who gat big jaab today bec’ase dem teacha learn dem good.”
“But wha’ mek de guvment na gi’e dem de raise dem aks fa?” asked Bungi. “Na DEM vote fuh de guvment?”
“Well, I must concede the 40 per cent demand is a bit steep!” said Hari, in his normally, mild tone.
“That’s just a starting number,” suggested Satiricus. “Why doesn’t the Government come back with THEIR number?”
“Well, de guvment put aside $700 million fuh 7000 teacha,” pointed out Cappo. “Da na wuk out to $100,000 mo fuh each teacha?”
“Da na soun’ too bad to me,” said Bungi.
“But after they take out taxes and NIS and union dues and so on, not much is left!” protested Satiricus.
“Budday!! Na de same tax an’ suh aan dem use to tek out fram abee canecutta pay?” asked Cappo.
“An’ abee use fuh march unda de hat sun ev’ry day!” said Bungi, with a smile.
