Education Ministry debunks Teachers’ Union account of salary talks on multi-year period

Last Updated on Thursday, 7 March 2024, 21:09 by Denis Chabrol

The Ministry of Education Thursday night denied reaching agreement with the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) earlier in the day about a multi-year period for pay negotiations.

“The government maintains its original position that any multi-year agreement must start from the year 2024, not retroactively,” the Ministry of Education’s Chief Education Officer, Saddam Hussain said in a statement, dismissing earlier articles by Demerara Waves Online News and News Source based on an account of the talks by GTU President, Dr Mark Lyte.

Deeming the articles “misleading”, Mr Hussain said they created the false impression that the Guyana government has agreed there shall be a multi-year agreement 2019-2023. “This is a proposal by the union that will be discussed,” the ministry added.

Contacted for a reaction to government’s position Thursday night, Dr Lyte said that was “shocking” and there are minutes of the meeting to prove his account of the discussions with top officials of the Ministry of Education. He recalled that the meeting was adjourned earlier Thursday to allow the Ministry of Education representatives to consult about the GTU’s proposed years. “Shocking that the meeting was adjourned to get the proposed years accurate,” he said.

The two sides are due to resume talks next week Tuesday.

The GTU’s proposal provides for 25 percent in 2019 and 20 percent for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Mr Lyte, at the end of Thursday’s talks, told the media that, “what we did coming out of this (Thursday) afternoon’s meeting was have the ministry commit to the period for the period of the multi-year agreement to be signed.” “We had a little impasse this morning as to when it should commence. They were insisting that it starts in 2024. The GTU insisted that it should go back to 2019. That has been achieved,” he said.

Already, the union President said his side would not be settling for single digit increases. “We’re not going to accept single digits,” he said.

Thursday’s talks stemmed from a High Court-ordered mediated agreement between the GTU and the Ministry of Education, marking an end to a one-month long strike by public school teachers for collective bargaining for increased salaries and allowances.

The Education Ministry said some of the matters identified for discussion by the GTU are the salary matters included in the multi-year proposal 2019-2023, 2% difference in salary for 2017 and 2018,  clothing allowance increase and Whitley Council being paid every 3 years

“The Ministry of Education reiterates its commitment to continuing dialogue with the Guyana Teachers’ Union that have been ongoing and which have produced several noteworthy results that will benefit teachers, children, and the system as a whole,” the ministry said.