Mixed assessment of impact of teachers’ strike

Last Updated on Monday, 5 February 2024, 14:09 by Denis Chabrol

Even as the Guyana Teachers’ Union  (GTU) vowed that the strike action would continue if the Ministry of Education does not agree to come to the table to negotiate for increased salaries and allowances, both sides gave differing accounts of the industrial action that began Monday.

GTU General Secretary, Coretta Mc Donald, said similar to the estimated 200 teachers who were protesting outside the Ministry of Education’s Brickdam offices, others across the country turned out in other parts of the country. “Teachers are out today. They have downed tools. The majority of teachers have downed tools and that is an indication that this strike is not political; it is because teachers needs are being met,” she told Demerara Waves Online News-Guyana.

But, Chief Education Officer of the Ministry of Education, Saddam Hussein said an assessment of the strike impact was ongoing and detailed information would be provided later Monday.  “We are now looking at the numbers as they come in… From what I am seeing in front of the Ministry of Education and in Region Three, I am not seeing much of an impact…I am very happy that the teachers have made the right decision,” he told Demerara Waves Online News. He said the Ministry of Education, through its network of Education Officers, would be collecting data from the ground. He said teachers were appreciative of the efforts that government has been making to improve their conditions and “they are going to make the right decision.”

Preliminarily, he said two schools were locked and said if an investigation proved that the headteacher were culpable, they would be referred to the Teaching Service Commission or the School Boards Secretariat for disciplinary action. He said the strike impact in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) and East Berbice was “not significant.” “In fact, I called a number of schools in Berbice where they had a hundred percent turnout,” he added. He said there was a “low turnout” at schools that are headed or managed by GTU members.

Mr Hussain said there are 13,652 teachers in Guyana but GTU’s membership is less than 4,500. In that regard, he said when GTU presents a figure, it would be a percentage of its membership rather than the whole 13,000. The Chief Education Officer said there might be instances in which members and non-members decide to either down tools or not.

The teachers chanted and held placards that read, among other slogans, “Don’t expect excellence if you’re penny pinching”, “You expect excellence and leaving us penniless”, “Guyana shines at CXC, teachers pay like junkie”, Less pay, less work. Teachers ain’t no jerk,” “Working teachers like a donkey but paying us like a junky”,  “We don’t want to clash, we just want cash” and “The oil money coming and the teachers getting less.”

Teachers on the picket line complained bitterly to the media that out of their meagre salaries they were still assisting students with transportation fares. “What we are asking for are salary increases, not allowances. Allowances, at the end of the day, can’t do anything for us when we retire,” a teacher said. Teachers were also upset that for several years now their annual uniform allowances of GY$8,000 (US$40) has stagnated while the annual allowance per child now stands at GY$45,000 (US$225) “That cannot do anything. That cannot even buy shoes unless you go to a Chinese (store) and by the time the term ups that is up too,” another teacher remarked.

An opposition parliamentarian, Ms Mc Donald rubbished repeated claims by government that the strike was politically motivated. “Teachers have needs. Teachers’ issues are not being met,” she said, adding that the educators’ patience has been exhausted since 2020.  She questioned why strikes called by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP)-aligned Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) were not deemed political.

GTU President Dr Mark Lyte accused the Chief Labour Officer of the Ministry of Labour of violating the grievance procedure by failing to call a conciliation meeting because he did not see that there was a breakdown “when the job of the Chief Labour Officer was to bring the two sides at the table and then he can decipher whether there was any need for that.” If that fails, he said the next step would be arbitration which was requested in November 2023 because it was not the Chief Labour Officer’s job to decide whether or not there was merit for conciliation.

He said the union would not negotiate for fraction of the teaching population, and the government has an obligation to meet with the bargaining agent regardless of its perceived political affiliation.