The teachers’ plight shows that Government does not care

Dear Editor,
The Government of Guyana will have its way, and there is nothing the teachers can do about it. This was the caption for an article that I wrote some weeks ago. This is the naked truth that is going to play out as this impasse winds down to a disgraceful finale.
The fact is that labour, or public relations of any kind for that matter, with this Government stink to the high heavens, and nothing good can come out of such an arrangement. If you have no respect for laws and want to carry out the existence of a bully, the situation developing at the present moment is bound to be the end result.
The GTU/GoG relations remain a stark reminder to all that with a Government which has no regard for laws, there is very little the aggrieved party would get out of it all. In fact, I predicted way upfront that the teachers would come out of this brawl worse off than when they began — something the teachers are about to experience soon.
It is not a situation wherein we did not know that this would be the end result, because this PNC-led Administration has done it before, and, from all appearances, has gotten away with it.
You would recall the appointment of a GECOM Chairman and the adherence to the Laws of Guyana as they pertain to that selection process? Now, 18 names were submitted, and Granger snubbed every one of them and unilaterally chose his own. I am speaking of eighteen names of reputable persons who are fit and proper and of international standing being pushed aside for a geriatric of his choosing.
This was bullyism at its height, and a notable noisemaker of the day, Lincoln Lewis, said nothing. The warning bells were ringing that the worst was yet to come. All and sundry were being told that their day will soon come.
All of this was going on when those “eddying talks” on teachers’ salaries and benefits were ongoing. That should have been a clue to those holding negotiations then that their situation would get similar treatment.
This should have been a wake-up call, but it failed because the political head of a chairman of the GTU was of the mistaken belief that “his government” would be at least nice and generous to persons who are known supporters of the regime. Wrong! He was ever so wrong!
So, what gave Mark Lyte that bright idea that he would be able to twist the arm of the bully by the sabre-rattling of calling out teachers on another strike? Well, I challenge him to try, and he would see how horrible the results will be.
No PNC Government, past or present, has ever been nice; or let me use the appropriate terminology, “decent towards struggling workers”; none that I know of, and this one is no different. And the Pro-PNC, Pro-Government Trades Union would not be there for the teachers when the onslaught begins. They would have thrown the teachers under the bus long since.
Would The Trades Union Congress be there to assist the teachers with a monthly salary when the Granger Government refuses to pay them? Certainly not!
That is what this brutal, uncaring Government is going to do, and there is nothing stopping them from doing so, especially when you look at their track record and the way they have treated other sectors also. It is not going to happen.
I see a Government that is going to bully its way through all of this, heaven help us!

Respectfully,
Neil Adams