The Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) strike continued yesterday as teachers stayed away from work and students were forced to stay home.
Georgetown and Linden were the hardest hit areas. The strike is now set to continue on Wednesday and Thursday of next week if there is no agreement between the two sides.
The GTU called the strike in an attempt to force the Ministry of Education to agree to arbitration for an additional increase on their 2002 salaries.
Teachers were paid in-creases ranging from 5% to 15% per cent for last year after talks between the two sides broke down.
In spite of the forced closure of schools, both parties remained unmoved in their stance and both appeared to be waiting on the other to make the first move to initiate another meeting.
The two attended a meeting arranged by the Chief Labour Officer, Mohamed Akeel yesterday but once again failed to achieve anything.
When contacted yesterday Akeel told Stabroek News that he had attempted to facilitate a meeting on Wednesday at the request of the Ministry of Education.
After the two parties had stated their position in relation to the arbitration, the union representatives said that they had nothing more to say and left before he could have made his recommendations or call the meeting to a close.
The ministry maintained that it was not prepared to go to arbitration having already paid teachers their salaries and the union wanted to go arbitration to address the issue, Akeel reported.
He said the union had other items on the agenda but was not prepared to discuss them without an agreement on arbitration.
Since both parties were unwilling to budge, Akeel feels that they should meet at the bilateral level and agree to start early negotiations bringing back to the table the three-year proposal which the union had been asked to submit to the ministry and work through that as a base.
In the three-year proposal the union had proposed a substantial increase of 50% to 60% in salaries, during the first year - that was 2002 - for teachers and bringing the level of the lower categories of teachers on par with those of the traditional public servants, then allowing for increases in 2003 and 2004 based on the performance of the national economy and inflation rates.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Hydar Ally told Stabroek News yesterday that the ministry’s position at the meeting was that it could not go to arbitration but the ministry was willing to start negotiations, as early as possible, for salaries this year and to discuss other issues.
Asked to comment on this proposal from the Ministry of Education, GTU President Sydney Murdock told this newspaper that he has seen no letter or official proposition for discussions on negotiations for increases for this year. “I don’t know what he (Ally) is talking about”, he said.
Asked what is the next move in view of the talks breaking down once more, Murdock said that the “teachers will stick to their guns.”
Since the Minister of Education Dr Henry Jeffrey continues to insist that the Guyana Teachers’ Union stayed away from a meeting on December 18 to discuss the arbitration process when the union had not been notified and the Chief Labour Officer took responsibility for what took place, Murdock said that the GTU is looking at the possibility of taking legal action to make the Chief Labour Officer go public with accepting the responsibility as the minister’s assertions were putting the GTU in a bad light with its membership.
City public schools were shut yesterday morning with many gates padlocked. But head teachers and administrators of many primary and secondary schools and tertiary institutions were at their desks “trying to catch up on work”, as one head teacher said, which they could not get finished during the regular working day.
Unlike Wednesday when scores of children, including many preparing for crucial examinations showed up for classes and found schools without teachers, only students at the Government Technical Institute and some at the Campbellville Secondary, where some teachers were also present, were visible.
Yesterday, it appeared that more teachers in more remote regions had joined in the strike.
However, Murdock told Stabroek News it appeared that in those regions or areas perceived to have an allegiance to the ruling party the support was not quite forthcoming.
He said there were also reports of threats of victimisation in some areas.