Judge orders Ministry to produce evidence of financial talks with GTU
-union made to withdraw recent application
Justice Sandil Kissoon yesterday ordered that the Ministry of Education (MoE) produce evidence that financial matters were discussed with the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) between 2019 and February 5, 2024, when teachers began their strike action.
The GTU was also made to withdraw their recent application, the contents of which the Judge said were out of the court’s jurisdiction to make orders.
Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall SC pledged to provide the necessary documents to GTU’s lawyer, Darren Wade, and Attorney for the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Roysdale Forde SC, by midnight last night.
“If there is no undertaking, I’m going to make an order… that the respondent (Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain) produces, to the applicant, all documentary evidence (agendas and minutes…) supporting the allegation and assertions contained in his affidavit of 29th February filed in these proceedings… To wit that financial matters were the subject of discussion between the parties relevant to the issues in these proceedings... Within 24 hours, on or before midnight,” the Judge said.
The court is set to reconvene today for what is anticipated to be testimony regarding whether teachers should lose pay for the days they were on strike, the government’s decision to cease deducting and remitting union dues, and the presence of collective bargaining on salaries. Prior to issuing the order yesterday, Justice Kissoon urged Wade to retract the Notice of Application which was filed shortly after talks between the union and the government collapsed on March 12th. The judge cited the court’s lack of jurisdiction.
During the proceedings yesterday, it was argued that the alleged failure of the MoE to adhere to the mediated agreement should be addressed via contempt proceedings rather than a Notice of Application. Nandlall labeled the GTU’s Notice of Application as an abuse of process and frivolous.
While Wade asserted that the union had denied engaging in collective bargaining discussions related to teacher benefits and had no evidence of minutes reflecting same, the AG argued that both parties should be in possession of the minutes so there should
be no need for the respondent (the ministry) to produce theirs. However, the Judge ruled in favour of ordering the MoE to provide the necessary documentation to resolve the factual discrepancies.
Despite Nandlall’s persistent objections, Justice Kissoon emphasized the importance of the MoE minutes in aiding the court in making an informed decision. The AG then committed to ensuring the documents are provided promptly.
During yesterday’s proceedings, Nandlall said that he was unaware that cross-examination would be taking place today and this puts him in a difficult spot of having to find witnesses on short notice.
After a four-week strike by teachers, the court ordered mediation between the
GTU and the MoE. The mediation took the form of two days of meetings with mediators, senior counsel Robin Stoby and Edward Luckhoo, and resulted in the two parties agreeing to meet for bilateral discussions, including financial matters.
These talks commenced on March 7th but collapsed on March 12th after the two parties failed to agree om the period for salary discussions. The union produced minutes to show that the ministry had agreed for it to be 2019 to 2023 but at the second meeting the ministry presented a new negotiator and said that salaries would only be discussed for 2024 and onwards. The talks collapsed and this led to the union asking the court, through a new application, to order the ministry to discuss salaries dating back to 2019. It was this application that the judge yesterday said should be withdrawn.