Meeting held today with officials of the Ministry of Education and Executives of the Guyana Teachers Union

Today, the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teachers Union engaged in a meeting that was intended to discuss a number of issues that have been highlighted by the GTU.

Chief among these issues is the Proposed Multi-Year agreement (2016 to 2020). The proposal addresses both financial and non-financial matters. The President of the GTU, Mr. Mark Lyte said that based on the last meeting that was held with the Ministry in August 2017, the Union would have communicated that it has no problem with the manner in which the Ministry will address the non-financial issues.

However, he stated that the GTU is presently concerned with the financial aspect of the proposal regarding salary increases, debunching, allowances and duty-free concessions.

Minister of Education, Hon. Nicolette Henry informed the GTU representatives that the government at this time can only offer wage increases in keeping with those offered to public servants. Teachers, being public servants therefore will also benefit from the proposed wage increases.

Dissatisfied with the response, the GTU President decided that the meeting should not continue and together with his colleagues left the Boardroom thereby leading to a premature end of the discourse.

What should be noted is the fact that even as the GTU President Mr. Lyte stood up to truncate the meeting; all other members of the union remained seated including the General Secretary of the union Ms. Coretta Mc Donald. McDonald suggested to Mr. Lyte to sign the non-financial aspect of the agreement but those pleas were not heeded.

Following the meeting, Minister Henry reiterated that at this point in time, the government of Guyana is proposing to all of its public servants including teachers increases which have been made public.