On February 5, 2024 Guyana’s public school teachers began strike action after a three-year protracted relationship with the Ministry of Education (and, by extension, the Government of Guyana) to respect the workers’ right to collective bargaining. In August 2020 the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) submitted a proposal for increased wages/salary and improved working conditions. The failure of the government to engage the union sparked the strike.
The strike which entered its third week sees the Government refusing to meet with the Union. The teachers are on Day 11 of the strike and vow to continue until the Government treats them with respect and dignity.
Last Thursday teachers provided their take of the situation on the Oil and Gas Governance Network radio/online programme hosted by Charles Sugrim, expounded about the strike and stated the assorted reasons behind it,
Sir Martin Samaroo of Region Two, a non-graduate senior assistant master, primary teacher, said he believes “teachers have reached a point, where they are stating that enough is enough. They have realised that in a booming economy, which so much resources available, as well as listening to the budget, that there is not much, if anything at all given to us.” Guyana is ranked among the world’s fastest growing economies.
“Teachers are frustrated and they want to be compensated properly for the work that they do. They don’t want to be on the breadline anymore… It’s important the world knows that many teachers are on the breadline and enough is enough,” he articulated.
Another teacher Ms Mehalai McAlmont, who teaches theatre arts, explained the Union exhausted all avenues before going on strike, having given the government three years to have collective bargaining on a multi-year proposal submitted in August 2020, resubmitted in 2021, resubmitted in 2022 and resubmitted in 2023. Providing insight into the proposal the teacher said the “multi-year agreement basically spells out everything that we would want for the next couple of years. For example our salary, we were asking for our salary to be increased by 20% the first year, 25% the second year, and every other year which is the next three years, so no teacher would have to be bothered the next year about how they’re going to get salary increase, what their salary increases would have been, and so on.”
Expanding on the proposal and explaining what collective bargaining is, McAlmont said “The minister often talks about those 47 things we submitted and they took 27 and whatever else.. the thing is you cannot decide what you will take and leave the rest…. it is a package we’re asking for, so you do not have the chance to choose what you would want and take and leave the others.”
And in apparent reference to Government’s claim teachers are given cash grants, McAlmont advised the money goes toward the children’s education, not into the teachers’ pockets. “So all of the things that they’re saying that they’re giving to the school benefit our professional life and we’re grateful, but it doesn’t benefit our personal life. The cost of living is so high in this country and our salary remains stagnant and we are so burdened by the cost of living in this country right now,“ she added.
Teachers are of the view the government’s objective has been to frustrate their Union by sending new persons to meet their representatives as part of Government’ engagement. They said every meeting a new team from the government appear and would tell the Union representatives they have “nothing to report.” It is a view also shared by many in society.
Impressing on listeners the GTU has not discriminated in standing up for its members against governments, Samaroo reminded during the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government the Union took strike action after three years of trying to secure a new collective bargaining agreement.
Member of Parliament and teacher, Ms. Nima Flue-Bess, appearing on Dr. David Hinds’ Politics 101 show said like everyone else teachers are entitled to better wages and working conditions, as she pointed out the huge disparity between teachers’ pay and government officials. According to her “they collect their fat salaries. They actually have to do nothing. We collect our little pittance and we have to stretch it. We have our own children to take care of and sometimes we have to assist our students.”
Flue-Bess said the life of a teacher “is not easy” recounting her own classroom experience, stating “many times you don’t have proper furniture nor you cannot replenish supplies like your teaching materials, you might run out of during the term. There’s nowhere that you could go to get any additional backup. Whatever was secured at the beginning of the term has to last the entire term.” According to her, because of teachers love for imparting knowledge, many times they will go into their own pockets and subsidise the costs of items, just to ensure that children are properly educated.
Meanwhile, solidarity continues to pour in for the teachers and the strike continues.
