More than two years after the High Court ruled that the Government unlawfully halted the deduction and remittance of union dues to the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), the union is still awaiting compliance with the court’s orders as the State continues to pursue its appeal.
The prolonged legal battle has left the country’s largest teachers’ representative body without a key source of revenue used to finance its operations, raising concerns about its ability to effectively represent educators in collective bargaining, industrial relations matters and legal disputes.
In a landmark ruling delivered on April 19, 2024, Justice Sandil Kissoon declared that the Government acted unlawfully when it stopped deducting union dues from the salaries of GTU members and remitting those funds to the union under the long-standing check-off system. He ruled that the decision violated the constitutional right to freedom of association and was discriminatory, arbitrary, unreasonable and made in breach of the teachers’ legitimate expectation.
Justice Kissoon also found that withholding the salaries of teachers who participated in the February-March 2024 industrial action was unlawful, declaring that the strike was “lawful and legitimate.”
Rather than implementing the ruling, however, the Government filed an appeal seeking to overturn the judgment in its entirety. It also sought to suspend the portion of the ruling requiring the continuation of the deduction and remittance of union dues.
That effort suffered a setback in January 2025 when the Court of Appeal dismissed the State’s application for a stay, allowing Justice Kissoon’s orders to remain in force while the substantive appeal proceeds. In refusing the application, the appellate court found that the balance of justice favoured the GTU and that granting the stay would cause undue prejudice to the union. Despite that decision, the dispute over the remittance of dues has persisted.
Attorney General Mohabir Anil Nandlall has maintained that the Government cannot deduct and remit dues without receiving updated membership information from the GTU, saying the Ministry of Education requested the information from the union but did not receive it. He has argued that making deductions without confirming union membership could expose the Government to legal liability.
The GTU, on the other hand, has consistently maintained that the Government already possesses the necessary records through the Education Ministry and has accused the administration of failing to comply with the court’s directives.
For labour organisations, the dispute extends well beyond accounting.
Union dues constitute the principal source of funding for most trade unions, supporting legal representation, collective bargaining, grievance handling, workplace advocacy, staff salaries, administrative operations, training programmes and member services. Without regular dues, a union’s capacity to represent workers can be significantly constrained.
The GTU has traditionally represented thousands of teachers across Guyana, negotiating wages, allowances and working conditions with the Ministry of Education while providing legal and industrial relations support to members.
The continued absence of court-ordered dues therefore has implications not only for the union’s financial stability but also for its institutional capacity to advocate on behalf of teachers during negotiations and workplace disputes.
The substantive appeal against Justice Kissoon’s 2024 judgment remains before the courts, meaning the constitutional issues surrounding freedom of association, collective bargaining and the Government’s role in administering the check-off system have yet to be finally determined.
