Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Paid Educational Leave Convention, 1974 (No. 140) - Guyana (Ratification: 1983)

Article 5. Arrangements for paid educational leave through collective agreements. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that some trade unions and employers incorporate clauses for paid educational leave within their collective labour agreements (CLAs). The Government reports that the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) included such clauses in all of their CLAs with various employers. The Committee notes the sample of CLA concluded between the GAWU and an employer, attached to the Government’s report, which provides in relevant excerpts that the employer should grant paid leave to employees “for education and training, to improve their knowledge and skills at local and international institutions in fields approved by management”. The Government indicates that the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union included a similar provision in a CLA with one employer. The Committee requests that the Government provides the relevant extracts of the collective labour agreements (CLAs) which provide for paid educational leave, as defined under the Convention. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate whether (and, if so, in what manner) it pursues a policy designed to encourage the granting of paid educational leave as defined in the Convention through the negotiation of CLAs.

Article 8. Non-discrimination. The Committee notes that the information contained in the Government’s report relates to various training and apprenticeship programmes which do not constitute paid educational leave within the meaning of the Convention. The Committee addresses the information provided by the Government in its comment under the Human Resources Development Convention, 1975 (No. 142). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any measures taken as part of future national policy or within the context of the labour law reform to ensure that all workers, without discrimination, have equal access to paid educational leave.