No reason for industrial action
Mr. Walter A. Jordan letter in Stabroek News of 9th April, 2003 headed “ Government should settle teachers’ strike fairly,’’ I think calls for some comments from readers.

Mr. Jordan has placed all the responsibility on the Ministry of Education and the Government not only for the strike but for having it settled and is actually claiming, it seems that they are not thinking of the long-term well-being of the nation and its school-leavers conveniently and no doubt deliberately absolving the Guyana Teachers’ Union from all responsibility.

The majority of the public seems to be of the view that the teachers’ union had no reason to resort to industrial action, the timing of which seems to indicate that the real reason was to forward a political agenda; talks were still going on and the procedures were not exhausted.

Many teachers who were willing to work and did not support strike action were locked out of their schools as well as the children all of whom support the view as to the real motive for the action.

Mr. Jordan also is peeved at the teachers “ in a certain region who are sitting on the fence” and are asking that some ingenious means be found to prevent them from receiving any awards should any result following the action by the GTU.

This shows the faulty thinking of Jordan who does not mention that these and all the many other teachers who have to pay dues under the Agency Shop system although they are not members.

The GTU have demonstrated their callousness towards the welfare of their children and their greatly increased educational opportunities provided under this government as compared to the deterioration under the PNC rule.

When the PPP demitted office in the mid 1960s, British Guiana at the time was rated as one of the countries with the highest level of education and literacy not only in the Caribbean but in Latin America as well.

An independent survey was taken in 1990 which found that 89 % of Guyanese between the ages of 18 and 25 were functionally illiterate which marked the unfortunate level to which our educational standards had declined under the PNC.

Since 1992 our educational standards had once again started to improve under the PPP/Civic, which the GTU and others are now trying to obstruct and disrupt.
Robin Suklall