GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC -Attorney General Anil Nandlall has asked the Court of Appeal to throw out a decision made by High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon, which stated that the teachers’ strike to demand collective bargaining was lawful and legitimate and so monies from their salaries must not be deducted for a day off the job
Nandlall also applied to the Guyana Court of Appeal for a stay of aspects of the High Court’s decision of April 19, pending the appeal’s hearing and determination. The government wants to continue deducting union dues from teachers’ salaries and remitting them to the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU).
In an affidavit in support of the summons, Saddam Hussain, the Chief Education Officer of the Ministry of Education, said the government stopped deducting union dues because the union had failed to submit its accounting records to the Auditor General of Guyana since 1989 and the Registrar of Trade Unions since 2004.
“In the face of this glaring lack of transparency and accountability on the part of the Union – moreover, in respect of the lack of accountability about Union dues which the Government was deducting gratuitously from the salaries and transmitting same to the Union – coupled with the Government’s legal duty under various statutory provisions and the doctrine of good and accountable governance, the Government decided to review its decision of continuing this gratuitous service to the GTU,” he said.
Further, he added that the government relied on previous court rulings that the government was not compelled to deduct and remit membership dues to trade unions.
In his Notice of Appeal, the Attorney General documented his contention that the High Court Judge erred in finding that the teachers enjoyed the right and freedom to strike. Instead, Nandlall said there was no constitutional right to strike but freedom.
“The Learned Trial Judge erred when he found no difference between a right to strike and the freedom to strike, notwithstanding that the Constitution of Guyana, Chp. 7:011 does not provide for a right to strike; rather, the freedom to strike is expressly guaranteed by Article 147 of the Constitution,” he said.
Concerning Kissoon’s decision that the striking teachers must be paid their salaries in full because the government had repeatedly rebuffed efforts by the union to bargain for increased salaries collectively, the Attorney General stated in his Notice of Appeal that the judge failed to adhere to the constitutional right to property.
“The Learned Trial Judge erred and misdirected himself in law when, in construing Article 147(2) of the Constitution, he failed to give any or
adequate consideration of the fundamental right not to be deprived of property as guaranteed by Article 142 of the Constitution.
“The Learned Trial Judge erred and misdirected himself in law when he held that the strike action called by a trade union was ‘justified’ and that the ‘no work no pay’ principle had no applicability, and that the employer was required to pay wages which had not been earned, contrary to and in contravention of the provisions of the Labour Act, Chap: 98:01,” Nandlall said.
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