By Svetlana Marshall

The General Council of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) has given the green light for teachers to resume strike action, if the Government fails to resume negotiations on salary increases for teachers.

In a statement on Sunday, GTU President, Mark Lyte, said a number of decisions were taken by the General Council at its last meeting in relation to the ongoing impasse between the union and the Government.

“It was unanimously agreed that our teachers must return to strike action having not heard from the Government side in 26 days as to how we are going to address the salary matters pertaining to teachers. So, that the first option that was given – a resumption in strike action by all educators across Guyana,” Lyte disclosed. 

The GTU President also explained that since talks between the Teachers’ Union and the Ministry of Education broke down on March 12 following the Court-ordered mediation process, there has been no effort by the Government to resume those talks. 

The Union is pushing for a number of salary increases to cover the period 2019-2023, as part of a multi-year agreement but the Government has rejected that proposal indicating that it would only negotiate increase for 2024 and beyond. 

But Lyte said the Union is resolute in its position, and if teachers return to the streets, there will be no stopping until their demands are met. The last strike lasted for almost one month from February 5 to March 4.

“This time when the strike action will be initiated, meaning when teachers are called out to strike, there will not be any resumption until our negotiations are completed,” Lyte said. 

He said the Executive of the GTU will decide on the date for the resumption of the strike action, and teachers should await it decision. 

Lyte said the other options provided by the Council include pressing Government for a mutually agreed arbitration process and or the initiation of legal proceedings against Ministry of Labour for failing to execute the mandate to settle dispute between the employees of the state and trade unions. 

Meanwhile, the substantive case against the Government brought by the Union will continue on Wednesday. The case addresses the issues of the legality of government’s decision to withhold the salaries of teachers for striking, and government’s decision to halt the deduction of union dues from the salaries of teachers on behalf of the Union. 

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