After having teachers on strike for more than 75 days during two periods since February, the Guyana Teachers Union has dropped its demand for its 2019 to 2023 proposal to be negotiated first, and has now agreed with the Ministry of Education to shelve that period and begin salary negotiations from this year moving forward.

In a statement this afternoon, the Ministry of Education announced the end of the Conciliation talks with the GTU which were being facilitated by the Chief Labour Officer.

In its announcement, the Education Ministry said the two sides have agreed that the multi-year agreement to be negotiated will address a period commencing from 2024 and onwards. The Ministry said bilateral talks will now begin on the multi-year agreement.

In confirming the agreement to begin talks from this year moving forward, GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald told News Source that the GTU has submitted a new proposal to the Education Ministry and has agreed to look at 2024 and beyond.

“We have submitted a brand new proposal because of their continued reluctance to look at the 2019-2023 proposal that was submitted since 2020. It is unfortunate that we have had to reach this stage of having to take industrial action, a prolonged one, and then having to be where we are at now. But let me say to you that the proposal which has been submitted to the Ministry of Education, it still has to be debated on, in the sense that the 2019-2023 proposal, there are something issues that are still to be sorted out with that proposal. We look forward to, and as we have always been doing, we have been going out there in good faith, hoping that our partners would return same to us. It is the hope of the GTU that in this new phase, we are not going to have the nation’s teachers and the nation’s children having to endure another period of industrial action, and we are hoping that this time around, the Ministry of Education is serious, and by extension the government, that they are serious about rewarding teachers for their contributions over the years”,

The GTU General Secretary said with schools closed from today, the hope is that the negotiations will begin during the school holidays and be completed before the new school year begins in September.

McDonald said she does not see the agreement reached with the Ministry of Education as any surrender. She said there was a landmark case that went in the favour of the union and will now benefit the labour force in the country. The GTU General Secretary said the union is still confident that its teachers will remain in support of the union. She said the Government could see another side of the GTU, if it is not serious about the new round of negotiations which are set to begin soon.

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