NEGOTIATIONS between Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) and Ministry of Education towards the nomination of a person to head the tribunal in their 2003 pay dispute are still stalemated.
As a result, GTU President Sydney Murdock said the union is now waiting on Labour Minister Dale Bisnauth to name the individual.
The two sides met on Monday but did not sign the terms of reference that would authorise the Minister to proceed with the naming.
However, as the union waits for word from the ministry on the timing of their next meeting, reports are that some teachers are indicating willingness to accept what the Government can afford to pay now.
The government is offering a 4.8 per cent hike on teachers’ salaries for 2003 and the GTU Past President Lance Baptiste said, if payable now, the union would welcome it.
But it should be an interim payout until the matter is settled at the level of arbitration, he explained.
Previously, the union indicated its preference for arbitration and the Ministry accepted that position, causing the parties to hold a number of meetings to ratify the terms of reference and nominated members for the arbitration panel.
According the Murdock, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mr Ganga Persaud said, though, that the ministry is not signing any terms of reference until the chairperson is identified by Bisnauth.
The Memorandum of Agreement on the avoidance and settlement of disputes between the parties stipulates that the tribunal shall consist of three persons, one nominee each of the union and the ministry and the chairperson mutually agreed.
If no agreement is reached, then there is provision for the Minister to identify the chair, the pact states.
Murdock said GTU has, so far, identified seven persons and the ministry six but Ministry has rejected the nominees of the other side, including High Court Judge Winston Moore, retired Chief Justice Rudolph Harper and former GUYSUCO Chairman and University of Guyana Pro-Chancellor Harold Davis.
GTU also submitted the names of former Information Minister Moses Nagamootoo and other attorney-at-law Khemraj Ramjattan, who were not favoured by the ministry, either.
We thought that because those two persons are from the Government side of the fence, the ministry would have found them suitable or be comfortable with those two individuals.
?urther, we thought that we gave the names of those two persons who we thought were upright and balanced in society and have, so far, conducted themselves with dignity,” said Murdock, noting that both lawyers are Central Executive Committee members of the governing People’s Progressive Party.