In a petulant move the Government of Guyana has signalled its intent to challenge Justice Sandlil Kissoon’s ruling that favours Guyana’s public school teachers. Friday, Justice Kissoon ruled the teachers’ strike of February 5 to March 4, 2024 was legal and Government was acting unlawfully when it moved to deduct pay for the days teachers were on strike. The Judge said the teachers’ strike was justified given the failure of the Government, as the employer, to engage them over the last three years. Kissoon also stated “the right to strike is a union’s ultimate weapon.”
Section 23 (1) of the Trade Union Recognition Act addresses the compulsory nature of the employer to engage the trade unions in good faith negotiation. The law expressly states:
“Where a Trade Union obtains a certificate of recognition for workers comprised in a bargaining unit in accordance with this Part, the employer shall recognised the Union, and the union and the employer shall bargain in good faith and enter into negotiations with each other for the purpose of Collective Bargaining.”
Reacting to the Judge’s ruling Nandlall said “wittingly or unwittingly, what the honourable judge has done is that he has laid the platform for every single strike action to end up in the court…The court will now become an industrial centre. That is not the function of the court.”
Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) General Secretary, Lincoln Lewis, told Village Voice News what the Attorney General failed to say is that there is a Draft Bill which encompasses the framework for an industrial court that is lying on the Government’s desk who apparently has no interest in moving it to legislation.
The failure of the Ministry of Education to engage the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) that submitted a multi-year proposal for Increased Salary and Improved Working Conditions led to strike. The Union submitted its proposal in August 2020 and every year thereafter but was ignored. This disregard for the teachers’ right to collective bargaining that occasioned the strike saw the Government threatening teachers and labelling their actions illegal.
The Government intensified its threats with the issuance of letters that teachers will not be paid for the days they were on strike and government will cease deduction and remittance of dues to their Union. Government’s decisions and behaviours resulted in the GTU approaching the Court in February 2024 for redress.
According to the veteran trade unionist “in the current circumstance where the Ministry of Labour continues to abrogate its responsibly in the Avoidance and Settlement of Disputes, which is ensconced in agreement between employers and trade unions, workers will be forced to strike and several issues will end up in the courts.”
The Government is also peeved the court ruled the deducting and remitting of union dues by the Ministry of Education must continue. Nandlall wants none of this. Lewis told this publication deduction of union due is an obligation of all employers who have signed an agreement with the trade unions in respect to their bargaining units.
“Nandlall has misinterpreted the role of the Government in this specific case and more so is out of order,” Lewis advised. The trade unionist said the attorney general is out order in mis-understanding the role of the court in interpreting the Constitution and Laws of Guyana, that this government and every employer have an obligation to.
In 2018 when the teachers were strike the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government did not deduct money from their salaries or refused to deduct and pay over dues to their union.
GTU’s case was brought by its Second Vice President Julian Cambridge who was represented by attorney-at-law Darren Wade. In March the GTUC, through Lewis, joined the case and was represented by Roysdale Forde S.C
