The Guyana Teachers' Union (GTU) has stepped up its membership drive in the wake of a decision by the Ministry of Education to stop the deduction of union dues and agency shop fees from teachers' salaries.
GTU Administrator/Field Officer Lancelot Baptiste said the move by the ministry was a case of union busting and was meant to deter teachers from supporting the strike now in its 24th day. He also charged that a number of teachers were pressed by known political activists of the PPP/C administration to sign a letter asking the ministry to stop deductions from their salaries.
Baptiste told Stabroek News that the union had predicted the ministry would stop deductions and had started some months ago to distribute membership forms to teachers and that the collection of the forms had begun.
The GTU was informed by a letter dated May 5 from the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Hydar Ally, that the ministry had taken a decision to stop the deduction of union dues/ agency shop fees until written permission was obtained by the member.
Ally wrote that the ministry had received a letter from teachers protesting the unauthorised deductions. He said the teachers were contending that the deduction constituted a breach of their fundamental rights as they related to freedom of association.
The cessation of the deductions, Ally stated in the letter, was in keeping with the ruling of the Chief Justice, Carl Singh in the case between the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and the Guyana Government.
Asked to comment on the issue at his post-Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon said that it was a fact that for more than a decade the deduction of union dues from teachers' salaries had been unauthorised.
He said the administration had been deducting the fees and dues without any instructions from individual wage earners.
Labour Minister, Dr Dale Bisnauth said that toward the end of Tuesday's meeting with the union to inform them of government's offer for increases in 2002 salaries, the union had mentioned the issue and had asked if there was some conspiracy between the government agencies.
Bisnauth said he wanted to make it "abundantly clear" that the Ministry of Labour had to "be seen as fair... we cannot be associated with what the Ministry of Education does."
"It is fair to say that it does make our job a bit more difficult," he conceded.
Asked to comment on the fact that dues were being deducted from teachers' salaries without their written permission, Baptiste said that every teacher whether he or she paid union dues or agency fees benefited from the GTU programmes including bursaries to teachers' children.
He said that in the seventies, attached to the appointment letters of teachers were application forms for membership to the GTU as well as a form authorising deductions. However, over the years the practice had been discontinued but deductions were still being made from the salaries of every teacher on appointment.
The deductions were made from every teacher, Baptiste said, as bargaining by the union for better salaries and working conditions benefited all teachers inside and outside the union.
He contended that the government's move would make the GTU a full-fledged trade union and on reflection it would put itself in order. However, he said that the education ministry would have to put itself in order as well because the GTU would not allow its teachers to work in any school without potable water and toilets, basic human rights requirements in any work environment. (Miranda La Rose)