Main concern is for the students as exams are a few months away
Dear Editor,
Being an avid reader of your newspaper, I carefully read a wellwritten piece on the teachers’ strike. As a former appointed Graduate Caribbean History Teacher who always aspired to assist my students in Fifth Form to achieve Grade 1s at CXC, I am disturbed about the current strike since it does not cater to the students enough as their exams beckon. Looking at the perspectives of the three parties concerned, the parents, the teachers, and the employer – they feel only their rights are on the table. But the students’ rights matter. The students should collectively have a lawyer representing them as well.
My main concern about this teachers’ strike is the hardships for the students as the days unfold since exams are a few months away. This is a very competitive world. Students need to get their act together and do so quickly. They should understand that their teachers will use their time to picket. That is good for industrial clout. The employer will try to please all concerned with the resources at hand. That is good for trade unionism governance reconciling with a caring employer. The parents will try to cover their children’s time but haphazardly. However, it is the students whose lives gets messed up in all of this. They will have to use that lapse of time daily in their planning to fill the void created by the strike. It is currently a LOSS-LOSS-LOSS situation and thorny.
I feel the solution lies in the quick appointment of a person (preferably one with integrity) to focus on conciliation within a few days. This 2024 collective bargaining process must be a negotiated process whereby such a person becomes critical to that process. In most trade union strikes, a rule to consider is want and desires will lose over an employer.
Another rule is that employers’ use strategies to get their way despite unfairness to the employees as the years ahead do not matter to them.
The goal of the negotiation is to reach a collective agreement that is fair. It is all in the give-and-take between reasonable people at the table. It can be a race that ends with a good result despite the late start at the blocks. That goal ought to be bilateral. But in this case, it appears to be trilateral. What confuses me with the strike is that the goal of reaching trade unionism collectivity is unreachable. I question which side is acting imperious. I know 100% that the minister is a capable, sincere, and dedicated individual. I do not know any of the big ones in the Union, but I hear one or even two are astute politicians and very educated
Dear Editor,
The sugar industry seems to be heading for a major self-inflicted implosion. The government of the day should undertake urgent measures to save an industry built on the backs of those who endured the brutality of slavery and indentureship. The industry is a national heritage, which if properly developed, can be beneficial to every single Guyanese citizen. Our sugarcane fields have long been fertilized by the blood and bones of our forefathers. Their sacrifices must be honoured.
Since nationalization of our two major industries, bauxite and sugar, has the Nation seen much benefit? Government supporters celebrated when Demba was converted to ‘Ahwee-ba’ but the fruits have been bitter and after the establishment of GuySuCo, the sugar workers have but are somewhat coerced or slightly swayed by their steadfast attitude in their prolific servitude to two masters.
This strike, as some strikes become, is messy. Thus, I urge all parties to use level-headedness. Tardiness is not the way to go. Tardiness will help if our country is a wealthy one - which it is not or if our students are in private schools and few attend public ones, which they are not. When we, the teachers, took strike action in 1992, Desmond Hoyte may have lost the election because he got his minister to throw crumbs at us. Be mindful of Caribbean history.
Sincerely,
M. Shabeer Zafar
Canada been forced to suck cane. The PNC, under Burnham, imposed levy after levy and laid the foundation for the destruction of an industry nurtured by centuries of sweat, blood and tears of our predecessors. Cuffy (real name should be Kofi, a boy child born on a Friday), deserves more than a statue.
The industry is crying out for Critical Support. There can be no substitute for good management, the formulation and execution of welllaid plans, technical expertise and freedom from political interference. There is need for a broader vision. The sugar industry cannot survive solely on the production of sugar. Management should consider spinoff industries and the establishment of alternative crops for sugar workers off season. Guyana cannot become a