Teachers renew strike threat over pay

SW Radio
By Alex Bell
2 July 2009

Almost two months after a potentially crippling teachers strike was averted, teachers once again on Thursday renewed their threat to down tools over low salaries.
In May, the Education Ministry managed to prevent a nationwide strike despite not being able to meet the wage demands laid out by the country’s educators. The Ministry instead managed to persuade teachers’ unions that they were doing everything they could to raise money for the education system, and as an incentive allowed the teachers’ own children to have free schooling.
At the time teachers’ unions, including the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA), acknowledged that their wage demands could not be met. They agreed to go along with the proposed ‘road map plan’ set out by Education Minister David Coltart that would eventually see a significant pay rise in the education system.
But patience is now appearing to wear out, with ZIMTA stating on Thursday that its members “will soon find it irresistible to embark on industrial action.” ZIMTA’s acting CEO Sifiso Ndlovu explained that the strike action “will be the last resort if current engagements with the Education Ministry fail to yield results this month.” He added that most teachers are willing to embark on a strike immediately out of desperation, but continued that they would wait until the end of the month to see what developments had been made by the government.
Many teachers across the country have already stopped working, apparently in an effort to find other jobs to supplement their meagre civil servants income. PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou said last week that in areas such as Bikita, Mberengwa, Chivi, Buhera and Chipinge, teachers are no longer going to work.
“They are very disgruntled and we have been officially informed by our representatives in such districts that they have gone on strike,” explained Zhou in an interview.
Zhou continued that the teachers’ cause for not going to work is genuine and the government must be seen doing something positive now “if ever they want our education system to remain reputable.”

Meanwhile, the Public Service Association last month also issued a strike threat to the unity government over low civil servant pay. The US$100 allowance that is being paid out by the government is not nearly enough to cover the economic needs of a family, where a basic food basket costs an estimated US$500. According to a statement issued by the Public Service Association, the workers have decided to go on strike should the government fail to hike salaries or allowances this month.