Guyana's President urges teachers not to strike

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – President David Granger says his administration does not want a confrontation with teachers who are planning to embark on industrial action that could disrupt the opening of the new school term in September.

Granger insisted that the coalition government cannot afford to pay more money to teachers and urged them to reconsider their position.

“The Minister of Education is working towards an agreement. We don’t want a confrontation, we don’t want a clash. We value the service of teachers,” Granger said.

Following talks with Education Minister Nicolette Henry last Thursday President of the Guyana Teachers Union, Mark Lyte, said that the union is maintaining its position and that teachers would begin their industrial action on August 27.

He said the government is holding firm to its position to offer GUY$700 million to cover across the board increases and GUY$200 million to cover debunching.

The union said it is still pressing its demand for a 40 per cent wage hike for teachers.

Lyte had said that he saw no need for another meeting with the Education Ministry and that the union's position on the strike action will remain in place.

He, however, noted that the Ministry and the union have reached agreement on several other issues that were part of the negotiation process.

President Granger, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a commemorative event for the 195th anniversary of the 1823 Demerara Revolt, urged the teachers to re-think their position “in light of the obligations of the government to other sectors of the economy.

“I think that some of the demands are justifiable and we provided the funds which could, in our estimation, provide relief to the teachers,” Granger said, adding that the government was “continuing to work for a solution” in recognition of the teachers’ rights and government’s own obligations.

Granger reminded reporters that the salaries of the lowest paid teachers have been increased by 50 per cent at a time when the government had to find GUY$32 billion to deal with inherited problems in the sugar industry

“The teachers weren’t excluded, they weren’t ignored, they weren’t omitted,” he said.

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