Industrial Relations

After a more than 70-day long teachers’ strike for pay talks to first consider 2019-2023, the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) caved in on government’s long-held position that the multi-year agreement begin from 2024, according to statements from both sides. The GTU said in a statement that it presented a new proposal from 2024 to 2026. “This was based on consultations ...

More than 800 teachers Tuesday night mulled options to ensure their names are not taken off paysheets and were told that another round of High Court action could be taken to force the Minister of Labour to send the pay dispute to arbitration. GTU Vice President Collis Nicholson stressed the need for teachers to return to work at least on ...

Former firebrand trade unionist with the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), medical doctor Anwar Hussein has died, his employer, the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) said on Monday. The NIS described Dr Hussain, its Medical Advisor, as someone who was “an invaluable part of our organization, whose dedication and commitment left a lasting impact on all who worked with him.” He ...

Two trade unionists from affiliates of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) are asking the High Court to stop the Constitutional Reform Commission (CRC) from carrying out its functions because the labour movement was not consulted about who should be the workers’ representative. Filed through their lawyer, Roysdale Forde, 2nd Vice President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Julian Cambridge ...

The Ministry of Education on Sunday declared a deadlock in salary talks with the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and officially asked the Ministry of Labour to mediate between the two sides, one day before striking teachers were expected to take to the streets. “Pursuant to the provisions of the 1990 Memorandum of Agreement “the avoidance and settlement of disputes” between ...

The teachers’ strike that resumed on Thursday is seeking to force government to go to arbitration for increased salaries for 2019 to 2023, President of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), Dr Mark Lyte said Friday. “We are at a stage where the union has to find a way to force the action and force the hand of the powers-that-be to ...

Lawyers associated with the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), who won a High Court case for the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) and the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), on May 1—Labour Day—called on workers to use that decision as the plank for street protests. GTU’s lawyer Darren Wade believed that workers could use Justice Sandil Kissoon’s decision that the 29-day ...

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall on Friday said the Guyana government would be appealing a High Court decision that declared that a teachers strike earlier this year was “lawful and legitimate” because government denied them their right to constitutional right to collective bargaining. “These are vacuous conclusions and that is why it has to be appealed,” ...

Guyana’s High Court on Friday ruled that teachers’ strike earlier this year was justified as their constitutionally enshrined fundamental right to collective bargaining was violated by the employer-the government- and so they could not lose pay for days off the job. Justice Sandil Kissoon declared that the government of Guyana, as the employer, has engaged in acts which constitute substantial ...

–Yarde refuses to talk about repeated failure to take industrial action The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) on Thursday said it dispatched a letter to the Ministry of Labour threatening industrial action and asking for conciliation, saying that there is a deadlock after three years of efforts to secure collective bargaining with the government for increased salaries and better working ...