The week of May 19, 2003 marked ten weeks since the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) called its members out on strike. The day after on the 20th May it was reported that a Memorandum of Understanding had been signed officially signalling the resumption of normalcy in the education sector. The saga characterised by empty schools frustrated children and students, marchers, heavy rhetoric and excessive palavering finally came to an end.
Strike action or the withdrawal of one's labour is the most lethal arrow that a union or collective workers has in its quiver and therefore it has to be believed that the GTU did not resort to this measure lightly. We expect that the Union had carefully weighed and measured all of the advantages and consequences and ramifications not only for itself, but also just as importantly, the children who are obviously affected by this move.
During the period of the unfolding saga very little had been said or written about the impact that this prolonged strike had on the children attending schools primarily in the Georgetown area. These children no doubt were always hoping for a speedy resolution of the impasse so that their lives could return to normalcy. We have seen newspaper advertisements displayed in numbered parts setting out the position of either side. We have seen various television appearances in which the virtue and vice of solidarity and recalcitrance respectively have been extolled and championed. What we saw very little of, are in-depth and consistent features on the effects that this strike had on the children. One Ministry of Education advisory even called on parents and students not to pay for extra lessons but what else are the parents to do as they see their children's education and long-term success being threatened? What was the alternative?
Surprisingly, no media house has sought to capture the full story as seen through the eyes of the affected child save for the odd story or report here and there. In fact in the Stabroek News of Wednesday, May 14, 2003 a letter written by a student is placed in an obscure section of page 8 entitled "Pay the teachers" and written by a student named Su Wen Ji who chided the President for not being able to find money to pay teachers. This child's words were very telling and are worth repeating "All I wish now is that money be used to do things that are important, and in ways that can help our future. On behalf of students, please try and pay the teachers their money, they work hard for it, and please save our children from not being educated".
The government is quick to applaud its own achievements whenever a new school is erected, or new furniture or lab equipment is installed but these cannot outweigh the heavy value of the most important resource in education, our teachers. Yes they may at times demand too much, but in the circumstances of Guyana where education is a key tool in the fight to reduce poverty and where opportunities abound abroad, they have to be treated carefully, and even to an extent fondly. When crime threatened the nation, money was found to strengthen the police force and no one objected. Now education is threatened I dare say that no one will argue if the teachers are pampered a bit.
On the other hand the government's last offensive in the evenly poised battle has been the immoral and unconstitutional decision that union dues will not be deducted for the GTU. This action coupled with the vindictive move not to facilitate the movement of teachers abroad by agreeing to the change of their status from temporary to permanent, really displays the dark depths to which some members of the government are prepared to dive. This is not the first time that the government has resorted to closing the purse strings to a union thereby threatening the viability of the right to freedom of association and by extension the life of the particular union. As it was condemned in the past this latest move is condemned again.
Now that the strike is officially over we can say it was about time that something definitive was done. One got the sense that there was little urgency in having the issues resolved. We read about an advisory group working under the aegis of the Minister of Labour reporting to him and in some way the Ministry of Education appeared removed from the process. This advisory group appeared competent and well intentioned but the question was justifiably being asked how effective was the Minister of Labour being in facilitating the commencement of bilateral discussions or negotiations between the two equally determined sides? There appeared to have been little or no interaction between the Ministry of Education and the GTU directly. Thankfully the Minister of Labour and his team pulled through and the GTU has gone on record in expressing its praise and satisfaction with his intervention.
In conclusion the nation's sigh of relief at the end of the prolonged agony must be loud. The causes and effects of this strike must be studied to ensure that in the future there are mechanisms in place to address sprouting grouses and disagreements to ensure that prolonged strike action becomes the exception. The plea of young Su Wen Ji still has relevance. There is a justifiable expectation that the president as Head of State takes a more hands-on role in matters which affect thousands of children. What was undoubtedly required was the direct intervention of the President or his special envoy appointed to bring this sorry state of affairs to an end much earlier. The zeal and enthusiasm displayed to deal with other matters and to visit far off places must be surpassed when children in the thousands are caught in the vice of disagreement and deadlock. Having thousands of children away from school for even a day is a huge problem that cannot be wished away or ignored. The fact that so many were affected for so long should have been seen as a matter of grave concern requiring urgent and immediate attention at the highest level.
That said a huge responsibility still lies with the Guyana Teachers' Union to ensure always that every effort is made to meet the Ministry of Education halfway and to appreciate that negotiations seldom yield all that one expects. Fortune, it is said, follows the brave and the sterling display of bravery and solidarity by the teachers has brought them positive results and we trust that the ultimate beneficiaries will be the children who depend on them for life itself.(