The General Council of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) has rejected a proposed 4.8% wage increase for 2003, saying the figure for 2002 must be settled first.

Talks between the union and the Ministry of Education deadlocked once again yesterday but the Chief Labour Officer in the Ministry of Labour has floated an offer to the union which the union will be considering over the weekend.

GTU President Sydney Murdock told Stabroek News yesterday, after the fifth round of conciliation talks under the aegis of the Ministry of Labour, that he was not prepared to divulge at this time what the offer was as the parties would be meeting again on Monday.

The union rejected the ministry’s latest offer as the increases for 2003 factored in 2002 increases negotiated for teachers in the lower categories as well as $15M for teachers in the higher categories. The union is seeking a 15% increase for this year.

Murdock described the offer as unreasonable but maintained there was still room for discussion and the matter could be settled long before the end of the month if commonsense prevailed.

However, he warned that if the union was not satisfied with the outcome of the meeting, in keeping with grievance procedure, it would apply for arbitration. “We are prepared to go that way again.”

He added that the ministry was still tardy with other issues such as the payment of Whitley Council leave.

The long-running feud over wages for 2002 included a strike by teachers earlier this year.