The 2006-2010 wage package agreement signed between the government and the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) included the setting up of a $200 million revolving fund to build houses for teachers but to date not a single structure has been erected.
In a brief comment to this newspaper on Wednesday, newly-elected GTU President Colin Bynoe said there were still some modalities to be worked out with the commercial banks on how teachers would access the loans.
Those conditions, he said, included whether the loans would be interest-free and if the teachers would need to provide collateral. Bynoe said the Ministry of Education is leading the negotiations with the banks.
He said that several dozen persons had been selected by lottery to benefit in the first round and another lottery was to be held but he was unable to say when this would be done even as talks between the government and the union begin on a successor agreement.
However, Minister of Education Shaik Baksh on Thursday told this newspaper that the blame rested with the union for the delay in loans being granted.
“The union has had some reservations about the interest rates.
“They want a better interest rate and we had approached the New Building Society (NBS) and they had proposed 4.5 per cent which is one or 2 percentages down but the union did not accept that.”
According to Baksh, the union wanted to negotiate for better rates and it was there the bottlenecks arose. The minister added that there were charges attached to loans and they could not be granted “for free.”
He pointed out that the rates they were initially offered were concessionary ones but he was unsure whether they were still available and may have to be renegotiated with the banks and NBS.
However, Baksh said the funds were available and teachers could access them if they so desired.
“There’s no problem really as long as the teacher has the land and want to go with the transport … they can access it,” he said.
The minister said he will be engaging the union personally and hoped they could have all issues resolved by month end.
Under the 2006-2010 package, $40 million was to be placed in the housing fund annually for the life of the agreement putting the total allocation at $200 million.
The package also included a five per cent per annum across-the-board increase for all categories of teachers; one per cent of the wage bill as a performance based increment per annum for eligible teachers; increased remuneration for teachers who improved their qualifications; an annual clothing allowance of $6,000 per teacher; one-off duty-free concessions for vehicles for 100 head teachers per year; and 25 government-sponsored scholarships per year for teachers at the University of Guyana.
It was announced recently that a new package is to be negotiated between the government and the GTU.
