yuji22 posted:

As usual, DJ will not post anything negative about the PNC.

Could it be true that he is being manipulated by someone in the PNC ?

I ain't no PPP or PNC,no one can manipulate Django,usually mix the articles posted.

The teacher strike won't be beneficial to the PPP,if alyuh hoping fuh that,get wan rotten rope.

Eh Eh Bai Django,

Is why you so defensive ? SN has a few articles on the strike. Post them for we na ?

Bai, like this strike Mek you angry ?

Bibi Haniffa posted:

And now Sharma is saying that he is willing to give back the Ministry of Finance to the PPP.  I don’t see Django post that thread.  Like he miss the biggest news in Guyana today.

You missed the news too. Drugb cougar ran away. 

Mitwah posted:

Django posted:

Drugb posted:

Bibi Haniffa posted:

And now Sharma is saying that he is willing to give back the Ministry of Finance to the PPP.  I don’t see Django post that thread.  Like he miss the biggest news in Guyana today.

How ,you expect de man to feed he pickey, he get paid for pro pnc news only 

Here comes the doltish,wondering about other posters.

Is de black bigan he want. 

The doltish have a new fetish for the Polish Sausage.

Please, all you keep this thread clean. 

yuji22 posted:

Eh Eh Bai Django,

Is why you so defensive ? SN has a few articles on the strike. Post them for we na ?

Bai, like this strike Mek you angry ?

Alyuh post nuh,who's stopping ?

No anger bhai,the have the right to strike.

You are the one allegedly getting paid ?

yuji22 posted:

Please, all you keep this thread clean. 

Advise your compadre.

yuji22 posted:

You are the one allegedly getting paid ?

Are you referring to Django ?

When was that said ?

Django on strike!

Ha Ha !!!

Django posted:

yuji22 posted:

You are the one allegedly getting paid ?

Are you referring to Django ?

When was that said ?

In an inner circle conversation. Anyway, never mind. Is a good thing to strike. 

Dem teachers starting a revolution in Guyana without a shot being fired. Dat deadbeat Banna Komal Chand shoud take note.

kp posted:

Django on strike!

Our region schools are open.

Not all teachers in Region 3 are supportive of GTU’s strike action

http://dpi.gov.gy/not-all-teac...-gtus-strike-action/

Check out we REO,Dennis Jaikaran interacting with a young teacher assembled outside the region's Department of Education.

REO, Denis Jaikran interacting with a young teacher assembled outside the region’s Department of Education.

REO, Denis Jaikran interacting with a young teacher assembled outside the region’s Department of Education.

REO, Denis Jaikran interacting with a young teacher assembled outside the region’s Department of Education.

REO, Denis Jaikran interacting with a young teacher assembled outside the region’s Department of Education.

yuji22 posted:

Django posted:

yuji22 posted:

You are the one allegedly getting paid ?

Are you referring to Django ?

When was that said ?

In an inner circle conversation. 

What inner circle ? alyuh need to avoid making up stories.

DJ on strike.

Granger packed his luggage and is currently fast asleep in Barbados:

DJ on strike.

‘If you can’t pay us right, we will stay in the streets’

The crowd cheering on as General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, Coretta McDonald made her remarks at the meeting in the packed Mackenzie High School auditorium

Sept.5 2018

Source

As hundreds of striking teachers in Linden and the surrounding environs took to the streets again to protest for better wages and working conditions, Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) General Secretary Coretta McDonald vowed that they were prepared to continue industrial action for as long as it takes to secure a “proper” offer or have the labour dispute referred to arbitration.

Armed with placards and umbrellas, a gathering of more than 800, which comprised both teachers and parents, endured the scorching heat to protest outside of the Education Ministry building in the town yesterday.

They later crowded the Mackenzie High School, where McDonald was adamant that they would not be “bullied” by the government.

“Let me tell you this, teachers: If we don’t stand now, we can’t stand anymore,” McDonald said to loud cheers and applause from the crowd that was packed tightly in the school auditorium.

“We are not only registering and paving the way for ourselves but we are paving the path for those trainee teachers, we are paving the path for our children, we are paving the path for other public sector workers, and we want them to know that because we are teachers and we create all professions we have to pave the path,” McDonald added as loud cheers erupted again.

She explained that the fact that Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection Keith Scott apologised yesterday after calling teachers selfish and uncaring shows that the government is “almost there.” (See other story on page 2)

McDonald also attempted to address misinformation that she said is being peddled around the dispute between about the situation between the GTU and the government.

“They are peddling a whole lot of information out there that the GTU is demanding 40 percent and without 40 [percent] we are not prepared to work. Lies. Let them understand that a proposal is just what it is, a proposal. And a proposal says it is negotiable. We can talk around it and that is what we are prepared to do but they are not prepared to talk around it and they want to bully us,” McDonald said as the crowd erupted again.

She noted that they teach their students in school to not allow anyone to bully them and the teachers will be emulating those same lessons. “We will not be bullied,” she declared, before adding that if government cannot come with “something proper,” then the union wants to go to arbitration. She added that even if they have to continue the protesting for another week or another month, they will.

“When we go to the bank, we can’t carry care and selflessness and consideration to the bank to pay your mortgages. When we go to the supermarkets, we can’t carry ‘good teacher’ and ‘teacher does spend long in school’ to the supermarkets. We have to go with the dollars and so we are saying to them if you are not prepared to pay us right, we will stay in the streets… We know is not long from now they will want me and you, they will want us to work for those long hours,” she stated, while highlighting that they will continue their protest actions throughout the week and if they don’t see any positive communication from the government by Friday, they will march their way to Georgetown.

Loud cheers erupted again and the crowd began chanting, “We going to town! We going to town! We going to town!”

After the meeting, the teachers resumed their protest at the education office.

‘Not a political thing’

One of the more vocal teachers at the meeting and in the protest line, Vanessa Kissoon, who has been in the profession for more than two decades, told Stabroek News that she wanted to applaud the union for sticking to its decision since the increase in wages was long overdue for teachers.

She added that while the GTU’s support for the teachers is unwavering, the teachers support for the union will also be the same. “We have, also, not just teachers, [but] parents who’ve been supporting us and from yesterday to today we still have our numbers and we will continue this until we get something coming from the government. That is the position that we and the union agree on,” Kissoon, a former APNU MP said.

She also explained that Minister Scott’s statements on Friday would have “put the icing on the cake” and pushed teachers, who were unsure of whether to protest or not, over the line.

Stokely Lane, another teacher who has given the country more than two decades of service, said he is very disappointed at the way the situation is playing out and that they are not only fighting for an increase in wages but other benefits and better working conditions for the teachers throughout the country.

“In some schools, you find that you don’t have enough washrooms for the students and teachers, so we are struggling, trying to make ends meet in the system and then persons in the higher “authority” are trying to disrespect us. I am going to say I don’t deal with politics, I deal with reality. The issue, this thing is not a political thing, but an issue that teachers have been going through for the past 20 years,” Lane said, while pointing out that if the teachers are comfortable, then the students will be better served in classrooms.

He also emphasised that at the end of the day the teachers also need to be paid livable wages since they have bills, loans and other expenses to pay like other working-class citizens of the country. He told the other protestors that they need to work together and would “hold it up” until they get what they are demanding.

Other teachers present also explained that in addition to their overwhelming workload, sometimes they also have to spend their own monies to fund learning aids and sometimes to assist students.

“I spent over $25,000 a month to travel to teach and over the 18 years I have been teaching I have not seen any improvements,” one teacher said. She explained that despite thoughts about leaving the profession many times, her love for the job has prevented her from going.

“I taught the last CSEC [Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate] class and children were living at me practically. I had to find things for them to eat and ensure they got home safe but the government not thinking about that. I had to use my own funds for teaching aids and what’s not. If teachers were so uncaring and unfair, they would never do what they do,” another explained.

While the support from parents around the country has been uneven, with some publicly standing against the teachers’ actions, the parents in Linden came out their numbers yesterday and showed their support.

“It was part of an action waiting to happen. …They [government] could’ve done something–at least give a small amount, piece by piece, if you can’t afford the whole thing. ’Cause is you promise two years ago you are going to raise the pay and is reasonable what they doing. Without a teacher, none of us would be here. Without teachers there wouldn’t be any ministers,” one parent, who identified himself as Mark, said, while adding that he did not send any of his children to school.

Another, Garvin Blande, also said that he fully supports the teachers’ strike since “from what I’ve seen in the past is that if you don’t protest you wouldn’t get anything in Guyana and it seems as though the people in authority don’t have no concern.” Blande also noted that while he is of the opinion that all public servants should see an increase in their salaries, given the high cost of living, the teachers deserve it the most.

In addition to the parents, the teachers also related that they have been getting enormous support from the community itself and yesterday the bus operators provided them with water and even joined their protest.

Where is Moses and the AFC ?

Thanks. DJ finally showed up. Have a good day guys.

VIDEO: Over 100 teachers in protest outside Region Three education office

Sept.5 2018

Source

Some of the teachers who converged outside of Region Three’s Education Department on Tuesday morning.

Over 100 striking teachers turned up in front of Region Three’s Department of Education yesterday morning as they continued to press their case for hikes in wages as well as non-salary benefits.

“We nah wuk, we nah wuk ’til we get we increase, fine am fine am and give we…,’ ‘Ting- a-ling-a-ling, no school bell gon’ ring ‘til Henry give we, we pay…,’ and ‘Solidarity forever because the union makes us strong,” were some of the chants heard while the teachers, armed with umbrellas and bottles of water outside the Vreed-en-Hoop office, indicated that they wanted their concerns addressed.

Currently, the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) are at an impasse in their negotiation of what was thought to be a multi-year agreement addressing wages and benefits. As a result, a strike that began in the pre-term has continued into the start of the new school year.

One teacher told Stabroek News that her decision to strike was based on her need to better provide for her own children.

“I have been a teacher for the past 24 years and I have three children who would have placed at senior secondary schools. Two of them are now at the University of Guyana, while the other is at the Bishops’ High School but as a graduate teacher I cannot afford to send two of my children to University. I have been forced to ask one of my children to take a year leave from the university just so I can send the other to high school,” the woman said.

“Working as a teacher for 24 years with a post-graduate degree and a Bachelor’s in Education, my salary cannot take care of three children. We work so hard to bring out all these doctors, lawyers and here we are. I am not out here because I want to be here, I feel for the children, but I also have to do for my own biological children too. This is the point where I have decided that my children comes before the nation’s children,” she added.

Another teacher said her decision to join her striking colleagues was driven by her desire to no longer contend with overcrowded classrooms. “I am here to support my union and my fellow teachers because being a teacher for so many years we have been faced with many challenges in and out of our classrooms. One of the challenges I have been faced with as a teacher is having to teach 37 children in one classroom. We have overcrowded classrooms and we have to deal with that on a daily basis,” the teacher related.

“What the minister said last night about hiring temporary teachers made no sense because we, who work day-to-day in the classrooms, are the ones who knows what it is like. Those teachers can’t handle those children—the retired teachers nor those who are in-training—they will not be able to handle and deal with those children the way we who are in the classrooms every day are accustomed to doing… She should go in the classroom and see if she would be able to cope,” she added.

Others lambasted the government for what they say has been the continuous disrespect shown to them by the ministers and they even suggested that ministerial allowances be cut to pay the increase.

“The present administration has no respect for teachers. If they had respect for teachers, they would not have been making certain comments about us teachers…If you cannot pay the increase, explain to us properly, don’t try to railroad us and bully us like this.  That is why we are out here—they are not explaining themselves properly but they want us to comply,” the man said.

“We know that they have the money because the allowances they get, they can cut some of that and give it to us,” he added.

‘No school’

Meanwhile, visits to some schools along the West Bank of Demerara suggested that more teachers were inclined to participate in the strike action.

The doors of the Parfait Harmonie Primary School were shut tight yesterday morning and students who turned up for school were told there would be no school as teachers were on strike.

Parents who had accompanied their children to school were seen leaving while some students lingered behind in what was an otherwise empty school yard.

Stabroek News also observed students from Malgre Tout Primary leaving the school’s compound, some in the company of their parents, just after 10 yesterday morning.

Meanwhile, parents of those attending the Vreed-en-Hoop Primary School reportedly removed their children just before 10 after some were sent home after being told that there was no school.

However, Stabroek News was told that the instruction did not come from the headmistress but other teachers at the school. As a result, the school remained open with some parents reportedly assisting to maintain order.

Over at the Nismes Primary School, less than half of the school’s student population was in attendance, but even so, Stabroek News was told that it still proved to be a task for the teachers who showed up to work. It was explained that while the school recorded the attendance of its 10 teachers on Monday, one has since been relocated by the Ministry of Education to serve at another school, while another has left to join the strike.

This newspaper was also told that some of those who showed up for work “cannot afford to strike” as they have scheduled practicums.

Similarly, at the La Grange Primary School, which also has a secondary department, it was noted that while more students showed up for school on Tuesday, the numbers reflected less than half of the total student population.

Regarding teachers’ attendance, Stabroek News understands that of the 24 teachers on staff, four had opted to strike.

Meanwhile, though a 90 percent attendance rate for both teachers and students was recorded on Monday at the West Demerara Secondary School, this newspaper understands that six teachers proceeded to take part in the strike yesterday afternoon. On Monday, the GTU said 400 teachers from Region Three were participating in the strike. 

Gov’t, GTU to resume talks tomorrow

September 5,2018

Source

The government and the GTU  are to resume discussions tomorrow under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Protection in a bid to end the teachers strike that has roiled the new school year since Monday.

Among the first matters likely to be addressed would be the Guyana Teachers’ Union’s view that the Ministry cannot perform the conciliation function and that the  deadlock between the two sides should move immediately to arbitration which would then settle the dispute and be binding on both sides.

Hundreds of school teachers across the country have struck in support of their union’s wage demands. The government has mobilized trainee teachers and volunteers to fill the gaps but it appears that many classes have been disrupted and some schools do not have teachers teaching at all.

The fruitless talks between the two sides have been running for over two years.

Teachers protesting in New Amsterdam today

Teachers wage talks to resume today

-TUC blasts gov’t for ‘creating conflict environment’

Striking teachers with a message for President David Granger on Brickdam yesterday. (Orlando Charles photo)

September 6,2018

Source

Dem PNC bais will throw something at the teachers and pass some money to dem union Guys and all will be settled. This is how this may end.

Money talks and BS walks.

Win Win for the government and the Union.

Strike called off: Education Ministry, Teachers Union agree to arbitration

Sep 06, 2018  Source

─ parties agreed at conciliation talks held today

─ teachers expected back in classrooms from as early as tomorrow

─ Terms of Resumption agreed to by the two bodies states that the union will ensure that there is full recommencement of work at all schools on Monday, September 10

─ Terms of Resumption also states that there will be no victimization on either side, no loss of pay or seniority and that the status quo ante [the state of affairs that existed previously] will prevail

DPI, Guyana, Thursday, September 6, 2018

The strike action by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) has been called off with immediate effect following conciliatory talks with the Education Ministry today.

The two sides met at the Ministry of Social Protection’s Department of Labour where they signed a Terms of Resumption.

The industrial action by the GTU has been ongoing over the last three days.

Speaking to the media moments after the meeting, GTU’s President Mark Lyte said some teachers could be expected back in the classroom from as early as tomorrow.

“Immediately we have signed on to Terms of Resumption, that the Union will be calling the strike off with immediate effect. On Monday all teachers will be returning to work but those who can will return tomorrow.”

The Terms of Resumption agreed to by the two bodies states that the Union will ensure that there is full recommencement of work at all schools on Monday, September 10.

24 hours after the full resumption of duties by teachers the GTU and the Ministry will meet to determine the Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the arbitration panel as guidance to the Memorandum of Understanding between the GTU and Education Ministry.

The Terms of Resumption also states that there will be no victimization on either side, there will be no loss of pay or seniority and that the status quo ante [the state of affairs that existed previously] will prevail.

The Guyana Teachers Union had proposed a 40 percent increase in salary for 2016, forty-five percent in 2017, fifty per cent in 2018, fifty per cent in 2019 and fifty per cent in 2020 be granted to all categories of teachers/educators for the years 2016 through 2020.

However, the Education Ministry’s counterproposal had made available $700M to facilitate an increase in salaries for all teachers based on the current salary scale and the previously proposed $200M for debunching for 2018.

Unlike conciliation, where the parties in a dispute are brought together with an independent third party (facilitator) to settle the matter through negotiations; arbitration involves an independent third-party hearing the evidence brought by both sides and making a final decision.