Labour Minister, Dr Dale Bisnauth, will most likely supervise a meeting today between the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and the Ministry of Education in a bid to bring an end to the educators’ strike now entering its fourth week.
Bisnauth yesterday told Stabroek News that the ministry was in receipt of a letter from the GTU indicating its willingness to meet with the education ministry to re-enter negotiations on the issue of salary increases for teachers for 2002.
GTU President, Sydney Murdock, yesterday told Stabroek News that the union had no difficulty meeting with the education ministry as early as possible under the aegis of the Ministry of Labour.
However, Murdock said only when the terms of resumption were brokered and the agreement signed would the strike be called off. He said the union would need two working days to adequately inform teachers about the strike ending.
If the terms of resumption were signed today, teachers could be back in school by Monday, he suggested.
He said the government’s proposal of $50M to bring the salaries of teachers at the lower levels on par with those of the traditional public servants and $15M as a basis for negotiations for the higher categories has been deemed acceptable.
The teachers took industrial action from March 5.
Today marks 26 days since a number of teachers, mainly in the city and Linden, began staying away from schools.
The strike effectively closed a number of schools affecting students who were preparing for the Secondary Schools Entrance Examina-tion last term and those currently preparing for the Caribbean Examinations Council and General Certi-ficate of Education examinations. (Miranda La Rose)