The Guyana Teachers' Union (GTU) has intensified its industrial action for increases in salaries for 2002 by calling on teachers not to report to work from today until instructed by the union.
This decision, GTU General Secretary Avril Crawford told Stabroek News, was taken at a General Council meeting of the union held last Friday.
The teachers are also organising a peaceful protest march in the city tomorrow, Crawford said, adding that police permission had been granted.
Meanwhile reliable sources yesterday told Stabroek News that a three-member advisory committee was being set up to look into the matter of the strike action taken by the teachers and to come up with recommendations on the way forward.
Stabroek News understands that the Ministry of Education would like the union to call off the strike and have teachers return to school before beginning any negotiations.
Yesterday, this newspaper was unable to reach Chief Labour Officer Mohamed Akeel, and Minister of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Dr Dale Bisnauth to comment on their proposal for settling the dispute.
The teachers took industrial action for two days each week over the past three weeks to back demands for a 15% across the board increase for teachers. The teachers were paid increases ranging from 15% for the lower categories to 5% for those in the higher brackets, but the increases were not based on any agreement between the union and the Ministry of Education.
The strike action had been effective with the majority of the city schools closed for classes and most schools in other parts of the country shut down as a result of teachers not turning up.
There were indications last week that teachers were trickling back to some schools that had been completely shut down during the first two weeks of the strike.
Some schools on the West Coast of Demerara and Essequibo Islands, the Essequibo Coast, Corentyne and in the riverain areas in the Barima/Waini Region as well as the Rupununi had been open or had reopened with classes being conducted as normal.
Meanwhile, children preparing for the Secondary Schools Entrance Examination due next month and the Caribbean Examinations Council and General Certificate of Education examinations have been missing out on vital last-minute tuition.