The Guyana Teachers Union has been threatened with cancellation of check off. by the Ministry of Education. The concept ‘check off’ is a labor term that appeared in the Guyanese media as relates to the teachers’ strike. Check off is a necessary right in collective bargaining.
I do not know the reasons for the teachers’ strike and what they seek from the Ministry. Thus, I cannot offer fair commentary on the issue. I do know that a strike does not serve the interests of either employer and employees but is a necessary weapon in collective bargaining. Both students (with parents) and even the teachers themselves are hurting. Thus, both the Ministry and representatives of the teachers need to get together and find common ground to end the strike.
I taught economics for over two decades and I was also a trade unionist for decades. I was an executive of my local chapter of educators for twenty five years, nine of which as leader and the rest as delegate or de facto deputy. I partook in strike in Guyana and voted for strikes in USA. Thus, I am familiar with labor organizations and labor law in regards to USA. Collective bargaining shouldn’t be violated by either side.
Labor Economics is part of the curriculum of the course I taught. The concept of ‘check off’ is part of labor economics. Union recognition and check off are mandatory in all countries, except maybe in communist countries and other dictatorships. Union recognition is when workers vote to form a union at a job. Check off is when employer collects union fees or dues from workers and remit to the union. That is the law in the USA and in Guyana as well as other democratic countries.
Guyanese socialists or communists tend to degrade the American labor system as exploitative and anti-labor. But USA is more pro-working class than socialist or communist and left wing countries. In America, workers enjoy greater rights than in socialist countries. In USA, labor laws empower workers whose rights are enforced by what Guyanese communists call the bourgeois government and the bourgeois court. Socialist countries violate workers’ rights; workers are victimized for pursuing higher wages. Free unions don’t exist in socialist countries. In capitalist countries, workers have a right to form unions which have check off rights. Socialist countries deny free labor rights. The employers in capitalist countries must collect union dues. Employers meet with union representatives of unions to negotiate wages. The employers cannot meet with workers directly to negotiate wages. The court will intervene and the employers could be fined. In many especially third world countries, authoritarian leaders are known to do as they please with workers. But in USA, workers have rights and courts as well as government tend to side with them. Since there are more workers than employers, politicians in America tend to side with workers to win their votes and their seats.
The government of Guyana stated it will no longer enforce the check off system for the teachers union. When workers violate a contract, the contract ends. It is also so in USA. Employers can refuse to enforce the check off system and even fire the employees who go in strike as happened in USA. Forbes Burnham was known to fire teachers as well as withheld their salaries when they struck. In NY, teachers were fined two days pay for every day on strike and or fired. Members lost pension rights. The union was also fined. The President of the union was jailed. The union lost check off. At the end of the strike, all penalties were reversed. Check off was restored. Teachers who lost salary were given extra work to recover wages.
The GTU losing check off is normal for any union on strike. But once the strike is over, it will be restored.
