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Labour Ministry failing to fulfill role as mediator between Union and MOE- GTU President
Day seven of teachers’ strike…
Teachers in Linden on the protest line on Tuesday
Kaieteur News – On the seventh day of the nationwide teachers’ strike, President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) Mark Lyte is chiding the Ministry of Labour for failing to fulfill its mandate as a mediator between the Union that represents the striking teachers and the Ministry of Education (MOE).
Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton
Lyte noted that the Labour Ministry headed by Minister Joseph Hamilton has opted to take the side of the Ministry of Education.
“The Minister of Labour had a responsibility and does have a responsibility to act as a mediator with his ministry and resolve the impasse… it is not his place to take a government position,” the GTU Head said on a live stream via the GTU’s Facebook page on Tuesday.
Lyte noted that the Ministry of Labour is supposed to bring the two sides together and engage them with the aim to have the situation returned to normalcy.
“The Chief Labour Officer and Minister have so far acted in an unprofessional manner by taking the side of the Ministry of Education rather than be a neutral party. The function of the Ministry of labour is to act as a mediator and in this regard, they have failed the Guyanese teachers. They are supposed to act maturely, sincerely and fairly in bringing an end to this impasse,” Lyte said.
GTU President Mark Lyte
The GTU head said too that, “The issue is that teachers are not satisfied with the salary increases that were meted out to them…The political divide is stifling this nation, there seems to be this thing that is where the government is saying we will not engage the Union because in our mind, the strike is political.”
He reminded that when the government was in opposition, it supported the teachers’ call for collective bargaining.
“Collective bargaining has to do with the body that represents the interest of one grouping of people for a particular cause; in this case, the GTU is that body. Now, they are in command and in power, they don’t want to engage the Union on the most important issue of salary increases…”
In a subsequent statement, the GTU Head emphasized that the Ministry’s decision not to engage with the Union and to present the Union with a decision that suits its purpose without negotiation is an arbitrary imposition that undermines collective bargaining and ultimately trade unions in Guyana.
“It smacks at a nefarious agenda of government and does not augur well for good relations …The GTU is conscious of its role as a representative of workers employed by the Ministry of Education, stands ready to commence discussion,” the union said in the statement.
Meanwhile, Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton in an interview with Globsespan 24x7podcast on Sunday accused the leadership of the GTU as being antagonistic.
He maintained that the strike is political and is being pushed by members of the political Opposition.
“We can’t have engagements with unions that are not progressive and antagonistic…It’s political strike. They are just using the teachers when I looked at the crowd outside my office, I didn’t see teachers. I saw many APNU supporters in their green jersey,” Hamilton told Globespan24x7.
Teachers continued their demonstration outside the Region Three office on Tuesday
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