Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday lashed out at the decision of High Court Justice, Sandil Kissoon, in the case brought against the Government by the Guyana Teachers’ Union.
The Vice President accused the Judge of being “presumptuous” in his ruling in the case.
While shutting down the Government’s plans to deduct money from the salaries of teachers who were on strike back in February, Justice Kissoon said the Government did all in its powers to sideline and undermine the Guyana Teachers’ Union, despite the union’s best efforts to engage in collective bargaining, and address the critical issue of wages and salaries. Justice Kissoon also said the President’s meeting with educators in the absence of union representatives, was no form of collective bargaining.
But Jagdeo, at his weekly press conference at Freedom House, said the Judge was out of place.
“Now, the president never claimed that this was collective bargaining but I think it is presumptuous of a judge to tell the president, who he should meet, and who he shouldn’t meet. This is the elected president of Guyana, who is the head of the Executive Branch of Government, which is separate from the Judiciary. The president can choose at any time to meet whomever he wants to, and for whatever reason, not to have a judge, any judge for that matter, telling he what he should do or shouldn’t do,” the Vice President said.
Jagdeo said as the President of Guyana, President Irfaan Ali has a right to meet with citizens of the country in whatever form he chooses, and should not be subjected to ridicule.
“So, in this case, he wasn’t doing anything illegal but is presumptuousness to criticize the president, purely presumptuous,” Jagdeo said.
The Vice President also took umbrage to the sentiments expressed by the Judge with regards to the conduct of both the Chief Labour Officer and the Chief Education Officer.
Justice Kissoon said the Chief Education Officer was not “full and frank” with the Court during his appearance, in an attempt to justify the actions of the Ministry of Education. He said under the scrutiny of cross-examination, Mr. Hussain bordered on tarnishing the reputation of his Office, adding that the evidence presented to the Court constituted a misrepresentation of the facts, and was found to be “inaccurate and self-serving,” and was further intended to deceive the Court.
In the case of the Chief Labour Officer, the Judge said there was no evidence that he conducted a “single inquiry” to ascertain when the multi-year proposal was submitted by the Union, and whether the two sides had initiated negotiations.
But the Vice President said the judge vilified the public officers, and had it not been out of fear of being accused of contempt of court, those officers, would have had some choice words for the Judge.
Further, he said the Judge’s decision that Guyanese have a constitutional right to strike and not simply a freedom, and therefore should be paid for the days the protested, was bad in law, and will be challenged by the Government. He said the decision goes against the globally established principle of no work, no work, and has grave implications not only for the Government but the Private Sector and Industrial Relations in the Council.
“That means, it is not for government alone. Every private sector body that has a union, Banks DIH, DDL, any company, in which the workers are unionized, now, can lay down their tools and say we are not working, and those private entities have to continue paying them because the Constitution of Guyana now says, that you have to do so, well not the Constitution but the judge’s ruling,” Jagdeo said.
Justice Kissoon in arriving at his decision analyzed the Laws and the Constitution of Guyana in addition to a number of landmark judgements and judicial reports, as well as the evidence presented to the Court. He said “the right to strike, like the right to engage in collective bargaining, is firmly embedded in the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed to every citizen of Guyana under the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.
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