With teachers preparing to go back on strike, the Ministry of Labour has invited the Guyana Teachers’ Union and the Ministry of Education to meet tomorrow to reopen discussions to resolve the issue of salary increases for 2002 based on the recommendations of the Advisory Committee.
Minister of Labour, Dr Dale Bisnauth, yesterday told Stabroek News that the recommendations made by the Advisory Committee were very general but the main one was the continuation of dialogue.
The talks between the two parties had ceased after the ministry paid teachers increases in salaries for last year without these being agreed upon by the union.
When contacted yesterday, GTU President Sydney Murdock told Stabroek News that the government could avert the continuation of further strike action being taken by teachers tomorrow if Bisnauth pronounced on the recommendations of the Advisory Committee.
Murdock yesterday said that the GTU had advised its teachers to stay away from schools from tomorrow until Bisnauth, or the government pronounced on the recommendations of the Advisory Committee.
The majority of the country’s teachers stayed away from school for up to 19 days last term affecting students who were preparing for the Secondary Schools Entrance Examinations and the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and General Certificate of Education (GCE) exams.
The decision to proceed on strike action was taken on Thursday after the GTU had given the government a May Day ultimatum to pronounce on the recommendations.
Bisnauth said the meeting arranged for tomorrow had been called by the Chief Labour Officer, Mohamed Akeel, who was authorised to deal with the issue. However, Murdock told Stabroek News that the GTU had lost all confidence in Akeel. The minister said that “most likely” he would also attend that meeting.
Murdock noted that Akeel had called a meeting with representatives of the GTU and the education ministry on Wednesday to discuss the report but he said that the union was not willing to discuss the report without the Labour Minister pronouncing on it first.
The report of the committee which was headed by former Pro-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Dr Martin Boodhoo, had been submitted to Prime Minister Sam Hinds two weeks ago in the absence of Bisnauth who was out of the country at the time.
Last Tuesday, both the union and the ministry were provided with copies of the findings and recommendations.
Murdock said he was disappointed by the government’s reaction to the recommendations in the absence of Bisnauth stating that someone in authority should have been able to deal in view of the critical situation.
He said that apart from the 15% across-the-board in-crease in salaries for teachers much more was also at stake as the ministry had paid salaries while negotiations had not been completed and the excuses provided by the Ministry of Education for paying teachers were frivolous.