The Government of Guyana has agreed to meet EI affiliate the Guyana Teachers' Union (GTU) following the `Stress Day' boycott of classrooms.
The one-day action was in protest of the government's imposition of salaries and the manner in which negotiations have been dealt with over the past five years. Although the government had dubbed the one day action ‘political’ and urged teachers not to heed the call (facing salary deductions if they did so), the head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon said that Cabinet has indicated a willingness to meet the GTU. Luncheon said the government had examined the recent threats made by GTU to unleash industrial action in support of higher wage increases for teachers and is prepared to seek ways to promote more constructive approaches. Colwyn King of the GTU said the union had received a telephone call from the Office of the President and accepted the invitation to meet.