The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), at a press conference yesterday, has intensified its call for President Irfaan Ali’s government to withdraw its appeal of Justice Sandil Kissoon’s ruling, which upheld the right to collective bargaining and the sanctity of Collective Labour Agreement. This pivotal decision, secured by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) on April 19, 2024, is heralded as a watershed moment for labour rights in Guyana.
Justice Kissoon’s judgment affirmed the constitutional protections of workers’ rights, emphasising that the right to strike is “a union’s ultimate weapon.” Citing Article 147 of Guyana’s Constitution, Kissoon underscored workers’ freedoms to assemble, associate, and strike without hindrance, as well as the mutual rights of employers and unions to engage in collective agreements.
During the February 2024 teachers’ strike, the government responded with threats, deeming the strike illegal and warning of salary deductions for striking teachers. It also announced a cessation of automatic union dues deductions. These actions, widely seen as an attempt to intimidate and weaken the GTU, escalated tensions between the administration and independent labour organisations.
Despite these measures, the High Court ruled decisively in favour of the teachers, deeming the government’s actions unconstitutional and an infringement on fundamental rights. Yet, on May 23, 2024, the Government of Guyana moved to appeal the decision, a move that has drawn widespread criticism.
The GTUC condemned this appeal as a betrayal of the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) founding ethos. Established by Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham and other on January 1, 1950, as a champion of the working class, the PPP has, according to the GTUC, strayed far from its roots. According to the GTUC, Jagan and Burnham, at the time were and remain the foremost consequential leaders of this country, if not wider afield.
The Trades Union Congress accused the current administration of prioritising political interests based on race, ethnicity and political support while neglecting the needs of workers, particularly teachers and other public servants.
The GTUC maintained that the teachers’ struggle for fair treatment was right, just and long overdue. Teachers, they argued, are indispensable public servants who deserve recognition, rights, and protections without being subjected to government intimidation or political manoeuvring.
The federated body urged the government to heed Justice Kissoon’s ruling in good faith and abandon what it described as a campaign of “political venom” against independent workers. It called for an end to policies of economic oppression and urged the administration to honour its commitments under the Collective Labour Agreement.
This latest appeal has exacerbated public discontent with the government’s approach to labour issues. Many critics view the government’s actions as an attack on workers’ rights and a deviation from the PPP’s self-proclaimed identity as a working-class party. For the GTUC, withdrawing the appeal represents a crucial step toward restoring trust, upholding constitutional rights, and reaffirming the government’s credibility as a true ally of labour.
In another related story, President Ali last week directed Attorney General Anil Nandlall to withdraw the government’s appeal against the court’s GY$24 million for the police killing of Quindon Bacchus. In what many see as the government bowing to public pressure, critics also contended the withdrawal is a PPP vote buying tactic to win Opposition support in the General and Regional elections constitutionally due this year.
The GTUC’s full statement follows:-
GTUC calls on Ali government to withdraw appeal on Justice Sandil Kisooon’s ruling upholding right to collective bargaining and the collective labour agreement.
The People’s Progressive Party ( PPP) was established by Cheddie Jagan and Forbes Burnham as a working class party and has to date organised labour to advance its interest. At the time they were and remain the foremost consequential leaders of this country, if not wider afield.
Successive leaders, from Janet Jagan to now continue the present themselves as maintaining the interest of the working class but the disparity in the Jagan/Burnham working class party to that existing now is a wide chasm between the working class, and policies and practices of the PPP government, acting only in the interest that they prioritise by race, ethnicity and political support.
These contemporary leaders of the PPP know fully well that the struggle of the teachers was right, just and long overdue.
A true working class party, embracing the best interest of this vital group of workers, who performed their public service role without partisanship to all the people of Guyana, deserve to have their right upheld and recognise, and not be target of a Government using them to score political points of their power and misguided purpose.
GTUC therefore calls on the PPP to set aside their political venom against the working class of this country, in particular the teachers and those they feel they have absolutely no control over.
GTUC calls on the Irfaan Ali regime to accept in good faith, knowing it to be true that the teachers deserve what they fought for, and more.
GTUC calls on the Government of Guyana to cease its attack and effort to attack the economic wellbeing of the working class, the pay they due. Respect the Collective Labour Agreement.
GTUC calls for the conscience of this self-proclaimed working class government to abandon the appeal and abandon it in a good faith maneuver as they turn away from a politics of domination, oppression and violation to a politics of inclusion and equal opportunities for all.
