Teachers strike action not politically motivated – GTU President

Aug 31, 2018 News

Although it was the membership of the Guyana Teachers Union [GTU] that advocated for strike action following government’s refusal to meet teachers’ demands for a decent salary, there are some who are convinced that the move is a political one.
In fact, primary among those being accused of taking politically motivated actions is GTU President, Mr. Mark Lyte. But Lyte yesterday sought to put such accusations to rest by insisting that the move to strike is in no way driven by political motives.
“As it is, this issue is not a political issue…this is a ‘bread and butter issue’ for teachers and all we are asking is for teachers to be given a livable wage and that is basically the cry of the teachers; it is not based on any other rationale,” Lyte assured.
As he disputed the allegations leveled against him, the GTU President disclosed, “It is being peddled that I am PPP [a member of the People’s Progressive Party] but that notion has to be dispelled because it is not true. People can peruse the PPP members’ book and that will reveal that the GTU President is not a member of the PPP; I am not a member of any political party not the PNCR or even the AFC.”
According to Lyte, it has come to his attention that many people are of the view that the Union is being unreasonable with its salary demands to government. But Lyte insisted that it was the very government of the day, when it was in Opposition had seen the need for teachers to receive better wages and salaries. The Union has proposed a 40 percent increase for teachers for 2016 and an additional five percent for the following four years. Expecting that the government would have at least negotiated a suitable percentage, an offer to pay a ‘ballpark figure’ was instead offered.
Moreover, Lyte said that the Union will continue to fight for a decent salary for its members who have the astronomical task of moulding the nation’s children.
The GTU President further made it clear that, “It is not the intent of the Union to short-change children but teachers cannot continue to live on peanuts; we too have our bills to pay and our children to send to school.”
As such he added, “we are not going back into the classroom unless our concerns are met, and we have made it clear repeatedly that our conditions are clear and straightforward and it is up to the Ministry and by extension the Government to address the concerns of the Union by first allowing this matter to go to arbitration…”
According to the GTU President, “the sooner our salary concerns are addressed, the teachers will return to the classrooms to help educate the nation’s children.
“The nation’s children have always been our priority but for years, we have waited and no one is hearing the cries of teachers…We love the nation’s children, we want to develop Guyana, we want to partner with government,” said Lyte.
He, however, added that while “we know that we are a critical partner in this whole process, we cannot continue to live on promises. We cannot continue to be put on hold and go through lengthy negotiations, which turn out to be fruitless. We need the government to match their promises with action and that is where we are at this time…We love our children, we love Guyana and that is why we are here and have put up with it all these years and the time has come for government to stop giving us peanuts if they truly care about us,” said Lyte.