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Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) General Secretary Coretta McDonald said there will be no signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Union and Government today. A short statement issued today by her on the Union’s Facebook, in part reads: “Please be advised that there will be no signing of any Memorandum of Agreement between the Guyana Teachers’ Union and the Ministry of Education (today). As a consequence, the Unions’ Negotiating Team will be engaging you our members in your respective clusters.”
Information was being circulated that such a signing was likely today.
The Union has been in protracted negotiation with the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government since returning to work on June 25, 2024 after Terms of Resumption were agreed to between the Ministry of Education and Union.
The Government has since been insisting it will not pay Guyana’s public-school teachers any increase above seven per cent. As government continues to refuse to pay teachers, public servants and disciplined services members livable wages and salaries there is continuous wastage of taxpayers’ money on infrastructure.
Last week the Alliance For Change (AFC) flayed the government for paying a contractor over GY$400 million for Conversation Tree road project that was never completed. Thereafter, the government awarded another contract, through sole sourcing, for the same project at a price tag of more than GY$13 million of the original contract.
In the oil and gas rich economy cost of living and employment are also sore issues. The parliamentary opposition,A Partnership For National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), recently lambasted the government for failing to generate sufficient employment opportunities for Guyanese when compared with infrastructure spending.
Addressing the high cost of living the APNU+AFC pointed to figures by the International Monetary Fund and other reputable international sources which suggest inflation rate is higher than the government stated. This is a fact known by Guyanese consumers who have seen prices for basic items rising by more than 100 per cent.
This is the economy Guyana’s public-school teachers live in. As some would say “the ordinary man is catching hell and forced to make the choice whether to give up a meal or pay a utility bill in order to get by.”
Guyana is the world’s fastest growing economy and the richest per capita. In 2024 Guyana is expected to earn no less than US$2.8 Billion in oil and gas revenue. This year’s National Budget is GY$1.146 Trillion. Last month the government returned to the National Assembly for supplemental funding in excess of GY$40 Million.
In August 2020 the Union submitted a multi-year proposal to the Irfaan Ali Government. Refusal of the government to engage the Union in collective bargaining led to strike action earlier this year and subsequent court rulings. In April the court ruled the teachers enjoy the right to collective bargaining as protected under Article 147 of the Constitution of Guyana. The government has since appealed the ruling that upholds the constitution and protects the country’s public school teachers.
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