Guyana: Nationwide teachers strike ends

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Government and the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) Friday reached an agreement paving the way for conciliation to begin on Wednesday next and effectively ending months of strike action by teachers across the country.

The teachers are due to return to their classrooms on Tuesday.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand in a post on the social media platform, Facebook, confirmed that the teachers will end the ongoing strike and resume work within two working days.

It was also agreed that there would be no victimisation, no loss of service, no transfer of teachers upon resumption and that teachers would return to their respective positions before the strike.

Importantly, upon the full resumption of work, it was noted that “conciliation will commence forthwith to determine whether the timeframe proposed by the GTU, 2019 to 2023 or the MOE 2024 and onwards should form part of a new multi-year agreement.”

The agreement was signed by GTU President Mark Lyte, GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald, Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary Shannielle Hoosein- Outar and Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain.

Teachers began their industrial action on February 5, in support of their union’s demands for higher salaries and duty-free concessions, among other benefits.

Following a court-mediated process in March, talks between the Ministry of Education and GTU resumed.

However, the discussions came to a halt when the ministry indicated that there was no fiscal space to cater for increases for the period 2019 -2023. Increases for 2024 and future years were put for consideration instead.

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, President Irfaan Ali said there was a possibility that the industrial action would end soon.

“There has been a lot of ongoing work, discussions in relation to the resumption of work and also the issues raised by teachers.

“I don’t want to go in any extended way in response to this. From the most recent feedback I have received, there seems to be some movement and in relation to getting to an initial agreement on terms that will see this situation resumed to some amount of normalcy,” President Ali told a news conference.

About The Author