Wage dispute continues
Union urges teachers to follow strict five hours per day
-no work to be taken home,no supervision at lunch
By Oscar P. Clarke
Stabroek News
June 28, 2003
The Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) is calling on all teachers to work-to-rule and if possible to take their one-hour lunch break away from the school compound starting Monday to back their demands for substantial increases in salaries for 2002 and 2003.
At a press briefing yesterday, the union’s President, Sydney Murdock said that the decision to work to rule was taken by an emergency general council meeting convened yesterday morning.
He said that it was time that teachers were paid overtime for the additional tasks they performed out of their work hours.
With effect from Monday, Murdock said that teachers would be asked to complete their work, which includes management of the classroom, marking of test papers, compiling end-of-year school reports and completing school records and journals, within their five-hour work day. They were not supposed to take home extra work to complete, he said.
Noting that teachers were required to supervise children, particularly those in the primary and preparatory divisions, during the lunch break, Murdock is calling on teachers to take their lunch break if possible away from the school
Apart from supervising children during the lunch break, he said that teachers are expected to accommodate and meet with parents and education officials leaving them with a reduced break.
Additionally, he noted that teachers should only remain in school for one-hour after classes were dismissed for development issues. They must, however, be notified one day in advance.
He said the work-to-rule would not be in contravention of any industrial procedure during conciliation talks due to start on Monday under the aegis of the Ministry of Labour.
The Ministry of Labour has invited the GTU and the Ministry of Education to the meeting at the request of the union which has rejected the education ministry’s wage increase offers on the 2002 and 2003 salaries. The ministry has offered a 3% increase for teachers for 2003 and less than six per cent for 2002 for teachers in the higher categories.
If the Ministry of Education requires teachers to work extra hours including during their lunch break, Murdock said that the GTU could always discuss remuneration with the ministry. Teachers have been saving the government millions of dollars working overtime on a normal working day and throughout the `two-month’ vacation when they were required to attend workshops, seminars and other activities, he said.
The GTU agreed to allow teachers to take part in these activities during the vacation for their professional development and to benefit the country’s education system but, he said that if the ministry was going to treat teachers callously, the union would have to review its position.
He said the Ministry of Education was aware that schools would close next weekend, but the work-to-rule was only one of several options the GTU has taken. Schools will reopen in September and the GTU has the right to pursue other options to bring the Ministry of Education to treat teachers with more dignity and respect, he added. (Miranda La Rose)