GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Attorney General Anil Nandlall Friday said that the government would be filing an appeal against a High Court ruling that it acted “arbitrarily and illegally” when it stopped deducting the union dues from the salaries of teachers represented by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU).
“These are vacuous conclusions, and that is why they have to be appealed,” Nandlall said, adding that the Irfaan Ali government “will seek a stay of execution of the order in respect of the orders granted.”
However, attorney Roysdale Forde, representing the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) as an interested party, said, “For the first time, the court would have determined authoritatively that there exists a right to strike in Guyana.”
GTU president Dr. Mark Lyte, who was present when Justice Sandil Kissoon delivered his nearly four-hour ruling, said the ruling energized the union and that he looks forward to engaging the government.
He said the “landmark ruling” sets the platform for other unions to fight for collective bargaining.
“As you have seen, over the last several years, we have had a lot of imposition, and other unions are equally crying out for collective bargaining, so I believe that this ruling gives the voices of teachers, the voices of workers, a chance to be heard,” he said, adding that the ruling has injected “renewed vigor” into teachers.
He has warned that industrial action could occur if the parties do not return to the bargaining table to discuss the 2019 to 2023 proposals, even as he left the door open for the industrial action to be “averted.”
The GTU had gone to court to challenge the government’s decision to deduct pay from striking teachers and its intention to cease deducting dues from teachers’ pay in favor of the union.
On March 4th, 2024, court-ordered mediation ended a four-week-old teachers’ strike. Talks ensued between the union and the Ministry of Education, but these later collapsed.
In his ruling on Friday, the High Court judge said that the government, as the employer, had engaged in acts that constitute substantial interference and denial of the fundamental right guaranteed to the GTU for collective bargaining.
The judge also said that any deduction or withholding of remuneration by the government from the salaries of teachers who were engaged in industrial action between February 5 and March 4 would be arbitrary, unlawful, unreasonable, or unconstitutional and without legal basis.
“Teachers lifted the voices and asked for bread; they were given stones. The union wrote letters to every person in authority requesting an engagement and to be heard on matters about the livelihoods and they were ignored. These circumstances led to the strike, which lasted for some 29 days,” Justice Kissoon said.
The High Court deemed the strike from February 5 to March 4, 2024, “lawful and legitimate.”
Nandlall, speaking to reporters, said the judge’s ruling did not address the distinction between a “right to strike” and a “freedom to strike.”
He told reporters that Guyana’s constitution provides a freedom, not a right, to strike, though doing so may incur sanctions such as withholding payments. In such cases, Nandlall said the issue of “no work, no pay” arises.
“Now you will have striking workers who will be compensated for work not done. You have turned the law upside down,” he said, adding, “You can’t use the tool of interpretation to expand the meaning of words beyond their natural grammatical meaning…. You can’t convert the term freedom into a right using interpretative mechanisms and principles.”
Nandlall said that the government’s decision to deduct and dispatch union dues was a service being offered, not an action enshrined in law. He was also concerned about the judge’s pronouncement that the government’s decision to halt the deduction and transfer of those dues was arbitrary.
“It’s not grounded in the Constitution, it’s not grounded in contract, and it’s not grounded in any other obligation, so is it that the government must continue offering this gratuitous service for the rest of its life?” Nandlall said.
The Attorney General described Justice Kissoon’s language as “objectionable,” saying that it was intemperate and giving the impression that “there was almost a deeply driven intent to use very, very strong language that I believe could have been avoided.”
However, Forde described the ruling as “significant” and “landmark” because it further strengthens the rights of workers in Guyana.
“I can’t underscore it enough, but this is a significant win for labor and workers in this country,” Forde said.
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