Teachers unions and govt impasse persists

A Teachers’ unions and government meeting to find common ground on salaries ended in yet another deadlock as parties failed to agree. 

The militant Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) said the salary negotiation meeting held by teachers’ unions and government “yielded nothing positive to the suffering teachers.”

Present at the meeting and representing the Government were Minister of Public Service Professor Paul Mavhima and Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Ambassador Cain Mathema.

In a no-holds-barred statement, the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, ARTUZ said, “We have clearly stated to the Ministers that the only incentive to take us back to work is the restoration of the USD520 salary. We are still incapacitated and can’t report for work. We were surprised to note that the Public Service Minister Professor Paul Mavhima is not aware of how much a teacher is earning. This is a highest of level of ignorance and incompetence by an incumbent Minister who commands hundreds of thousands of government workers.”

“The two Ministers said they do not have the capacity to respond to our demands, therefore they will submit our demands for discussion in the cabinet meeting on Tuesday 6 October. But however, we told them that we will only report for duty when our demands are met. We are glad that the Public Service Minister clearly said no teacher will be fired for being incapacitated”

SEIZE took exception to Mavhima’s designation of the Union as a political entity.

“As Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, ARTUZ we are further saddened by Professor Paul Mavhima’s utterances during the meeting of misconstruing us as a political entity yet we clearly represent the genuine grievances of teachers. Such levels of  thinking by a Labour Minister is of an agenda of trying to kill trade unionism and continue to oppress the hard working teachers.”
The union is advising parents to withdraw learners from school until the outstanding dispute is resolved. “We urge parents to withdraw their children from schools until our salary dispute by the government is resolved. Sending kids to schools when teachers are not available is a great risk of contracting COVID-19 and also promoting learners to engage in unethical conducts.”