Teachers union considering govt proposals

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 June 2023, 19:56 by Denis Chabrol

The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) has said that it would be meeting with teachers over the next weeks to consider a number of proposals by the Ministry of Education including salaries, licensing of teachers and a housing revolving fund.

“Given the areas mention, the Union will within the next two weeks engage you our members with a view to have an objective consensus in responding to the proposal made by the Ministry of Education/ Government of Guyana,” the union said.

In a memorandum to union members dated June 3, 2023, the GTU said the two sides met on May 30, 2023 and government tabled a number of proposals on debunching, scholarship, housing revolving fund, duty free concession, master teachers, station and hardline allowances, salary anomalies, clothing allowance and insurance of teachers, licensing of teachers, clerical staff for schools , counsellors, and monthly professional development sessions.

No details of the proposals were provided in the circular, but the GTU said a number of those areas formed part of  its multi-year
proposal which was submitted to the Ministry of Education in 2020 for the period 2019-2023.

“To date the proposal has not been honoured by the Government of Guyana while the Government  would have deduced some areas from the multi-year proposal,” the union said in a statement.

The General Secretary of the GTU Coretta Mc Donald has repeatedly declined to say what percentage salary increase is the union demanding.