At a very crucial crossroads in its struggle, the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) is stricken by its own internal differences. To some the president is seen as a PPP Government chisel; from the government’s perspective, the general secretary is PNC through and through. Whatever Mr. Lyte or Ms. McDonald is, it is not the government’s 10% that was about to be accepted, nor the 20% being bandied about by dissenters in the GTU.
Though there is some regard for 20% for what it can do for teachers, and that number as part of an intricate negotiation dance, it is too much all at one shot and a tad too early in the package under review. To emphasize where I stand, it is not the 10% ultimatum delivered president to president, while there is heavy weather anticipated ahead from the government side for 20% counter, as much as it rings well here.
Considering that the teachers manifested a tremendous amount of good faith in coming off the streets after well over two months in rain and sun, that alone should earn a point. Also, the fact that a few years were taken off the table by the GTU, must also yield some return, the sacrifice recognized. I think that that return must be worth 10 percentage points at a minimum.
Using the PPP Government’s insulting initial offer of 6%, the first number should have been 16%. Speaking for myself, somewhere between 15-20% is where matters should be for 2024. I think that is fair and reasonable, and justified by the complex of circumstances, indicative of give and take by both sides.
Now I notice that, to date, all the numbers published for 2024 and the next couple of years point to a sliding scale that is downward. It is going about matters the wrong way. I think that the situation suffers from inversion, aka being backwards. Whatever is the finalized starting point for offer/counteroffer and acceptance-be it 15, 16, or even 20%-the increase for the next few years must be higher than that of 2024.
If the 2024 number must be a shade lower (14-16%) to accommodate more in 2025 and 2026, then then that’s the way to go. After all, with daily oil production ramping up by leaps and bounds, and new oil projects coming onstream, it was the Honorable Chief Minister of Oil, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, who himself spoke of returns to Guyana being maximized in a few years. Amen, I say.
With that in mind, I say also that Guyana would be even better equipped moneywise to be constructive with pay increases to teachers starting today. If the Chief Policymaker is still up in arms about inflationary pressures building from a 20% (or whatever) increase for teachers, then I recommend that he considers a policy revisit with a sharp eye at the allocation side of massive and lavish budgetary expenditures. Even a man of his nature, one not quite friendly with presenting a straight setting in many circumstances, would be tormented by the heavy tilt of such expenditures in one direction.
Dr. Jagdeo is sensible enough to appreciate the accuracy of this assertion; he must be bold enough to make the proper adjustments. The teachers’ pay package stands as a test of how balanced he can be. He is the driving force, the final arbiter, behind what budget records have come to look like, and who is favored, who is not. When billions could always be found for sugar by the PPP Government (Jagdeo), then the sourness of inflation that he cries about, pretends to fear, is a product of his fevered political imagination.
The inflation beast did not crush Guyanese in the aftermath of the Armstrong award for public servants decades ago. Inflation should not squeeze Guyanese today when the sizable pay increases long overdue to teachers and public servants would represent such a small fraction of overall spending in the bigger picture. The minimum wage is negligible, and how those Guyanese survive is beyond my understanding. Pay increases to Guyanese in other sectors have been minimal, with single digits being the norm, yet a numbing array of price pressures unloads from all directions on citizens from all walks and maul them to near senselessness.
Drug (legal ones) prices. Construction material prices. Labour prices. And food prices. Skyrocketing food prices is the heavy monstrosity on the backs of Guyanese. Even when proper weight is given to PPP Government subsidies and cash envelopes, the steep and continuing increase in prices cannot be explained by the common man and the cash-stressed worker embarking on either wild or sustained spending sprees. The money in hand is simply not there. Nevertheless, the prices for most materials, whether to ingest or other consumption, keep climbing and climbing to unreachable heights.
Foreign demand for goods and services certainly has made its contributions to where local prices are. On the one hand, there is a big cheer for all the bustle of activity that is going on. On the other, there is a great cry from left out Guyanese about how they are being left behind and simply cannot manage, given where prices (food) are.
The 10% versus 20% pay increase for teachers stands as a test case for where some other workers in this country will end up. How they (some) are seen, how they (some) are treated. The GTU has been the legionnaire fighting a single handed battle against a goliath of an adversary. The PPP Government has been dogged with its skimpy offers. A happy medium must be found. It is neither 10 nor 20%. Both represent a beginning; both must be willing to give to get.
