GTU President and Vice President suspended over teachers' salary deal

President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, Dr. Mark Lyte and his second Vice President, Julian Cambridge have been suspended by the General Council of the Union for their role in accepting the three-year wage package from the Government.

The General Council, the Union’s second highest decision-making body, took the decision on December 17, 2024 after a motion, calling for the suspension of the two high ranking officials was successfully passed.

The decision comes four months after Lyte and Cambridge signed the agreement for teachers to receive a 10% salary increase for this year, along with an 8% increase for next year and a 9% increase for 2026.

Speaking to News Source this morning, General Secretary of the Teachers’ Union, Coretta McDonald said the General Council felt it was misled by the President and second Vice President of the Union.

McDonald explained that at a meeting of the General Council on Tuesday, a Union Representative moved the motion for the President and second Vice President to be suspended pending an investigation.

‘’The motion cited Mr. Lyte and Mr. Cambridge as being the signees, which is a fact, the signees to the agreement much to the disapproval of the thousands of teachers, who are members of the Guyana Teachers’ Union,’’ the General Secretary explained.

The motion was debated and both Lyte and Cambridge were given the opportunity to respond to the allegations leveled against them.

In the end, 34 persons voted in favor of the motion, eight voted against it and one person abstained.

‘’On the 9^th of August, the President led the General Council through a discussion and in the mind of the members the President went ahead of himself. At that General Council meeting it was felt that they were misled, which would have caused General Council to make the decision it made,’’ she explained.

A committee was formed to investigate the allegations.

Lyte when contacted by News Source this morning declined to comment on his suspension, telling News Source that he was awaiting formal documentation.

‘’There is nothing to confirm until I have a formal correspondence,’’ he said.

On the day the agreement was signed, the President said he had the approval of the General Council. There was always concern about the acceptance of the package, since the day before signing on to the 10% increase agreement, Lyte had rejected a 9% pay hike agreement.

The agreement brought an end to months of industrial action.

Teachers spent 75 days on strike action earlier this year, leading to Court cases over their salaries and a brief return to work in the middle of the strike action. However, once the negotiations got started, the teachers returned to work fully, telling the union that it should push for an increase of more than 30%.

The Government’s initial offer was 6% and that climbed to 9%, before eventually settling at 10% for the years 2024 to 2026. The union shelved its demand for negotiations on the agreement for the previous years.