Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall SC, MP is adamant that the teachers will not be receiving any salary increase for the 2019-2023 salary negotiation period due to various reasons, including the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on economies worldwide. This view goes contrary to the court-ordered agreement of March 4, 2024 where the two sides agreed to enter discussion on the multiyear proposal from 2019-2023 which was before the Government since August 2020.
Apart from that, the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) is demanding a 20 percent interim pay increase before the teacher’s strike is called off to make way for the start of mediation, but the Ministry of Education on Wednesday said the union’s demand amounted to duress. General Secretary, Guyana Trades Union Congress, Lincoln Lewis said the teachers’ call for an 20 percent interim increase is not dissimilar to an package paid to public servant as condition of resumption in the 1999 strike.
“We wanted to include an interim payout to teachers before we resume school and have the situation normal so we put on the table an interim percentage increase while we meet to discuss what will be the final numbers,” GTU President Dr Mark Lyte told Demerara Waves media.
However, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Mohabir Anil Nandlall, says teachers will not be receiving any salary increase for the 2019-2023 salary negotiation period due to various reasons, including the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on economies worldwide.AG Nandlall believes that this demand reflects a lack of interest in conciliation and resolving issues beforehand, emphasizing the need for both parties to engage in good faith and adhere to the principles of conciliation.
“In order for the conciliation to even start, you have to go back to work,” Minister Nandlall highlighted on Wednesday as he appeared in an interview with the National Communications Network (NCN). But veteran trade unionist Lewis said “not so.” According to the trade unionist there is no law which says the workers have to return to work before conciliation starts and blames the constructively allowing the strike to deprive workers what the Constitution of Guyana guarantees them and economy can afford to pay.
Nandlall is however accusing the GTU of engaging “in bad faith [and] that is contrary to the principles of conciliation, and may very well be unlawful.” Lewis called on him to stop the talks and provide the law to prove his public mischief.
According to Nandlall government cannot grant an increase for the period of 2019-2023 due to various valid reasons, including the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on economies worldwide. He said that while many countries were cutting the salaries of its workers, the Guyanese Government continued to pay teachers even when they were not physically present at work. Lewis said Nandlall Guyanese are fools and are unaware as an oil producing economy has the world’s highest growth per capita.
According to Lewis if the AG knows other countries are cutting salary let the minister start by cutting theirs. The veteran trade unionist said government is continuing to threaten teachers and mislead the public. He reminded that the Government’s lawyers and GTU’s lawyer agreed that the teachers will return to work and negotiation between the two parties shall be for period 2019-2023.
Meanwhile, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand has regarded the request as unacceptable and unreasonable, which she believes is set out to derail the process.
The education ministry said “though the union has repeatedly sought to assure Guyanese that the strike was not politically motivated, the education ministry said that due to the current stance by the GTU, it was clear that there were motives other than workers’ welfare that were influencing the industrial unrest.
People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo earlier this month remarked that street protests by People’s National Congress Reform-associated lawyers Darren Wade and Roysdale Forde at the joint GTU-GTUC May Day Rally showed the political undercurrents of the strike. Lewis said “nonsense.” He said these were two who delivered for the workers and the workers were prepared to express appreciation and listen to the lawyer who represented them against a tyrannical government
Teachers in Guyana initiated a second wave of strike actions on May 9, prompting discussions that commenced on May 13 and persisted through May 14. Despite the government’s willingness to discuss teacher salary increases from 2024 onward, the GTU insists on retroactive increases from 2019-2023. “Now the Jagdeo/Ali is requesting conciliation for the period 2019-2023, or 2024 onwards.”
Government has threatened to appeal Judge Sandil Kissoon’s ruling that the teachers’ salaries should not be deducted following their participation in a five-week strike even as the written judgment is yet to be disseminated.
