Tension builds as teachers tell government they will not be reporting for duty

Teachers unions said their members would not report for duty because the salaries they are being afforded is not enough to cover their transport costs to and from work, let alone pay fees for their own children and feed them.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou said teachers under his union would not be reporting for duty despite the 75% increment announcement. He shared the following remarks

“It’s madness of the worst order. The same government gave police, soldiers, and Central Intelligence Organisation officers more than 100% salary increases with effect from February 2021. Now they want to give the rest of the civil service 25% with effect from April, and the other 50% from June

This double standard is unacceptable. Worse still, it is not a product of social dialogue, but unilateralism. What teachers want is restoration of the purchasing power parity of US$520 to US$550 or its equivalent.

The incapacitation modus operandi will continue unabated until government takes teachers seriously.”

The 75% proposed increment has been described as a mockery to the teaching profession given that the increment would be staggered, adding that by June, it would have been eroded by inflation. The Zimbabwe National Teachers Union chief executive officer Manuel Nyawo shared the following sentiments:

“We are so much frustrated and disappointed by the proposed 75% increment which remains a drop in the ocean. The increment margin that is being offered ranges from $3 500 to
$4 500. How is the little amount going to solve our incapacitation?

There is no reason for us not to demonstrate. We are incapacitated, hence we will join any other union that wants to demonstrate for our own good.”

Remarking on the decision making process, Artuz president Obert Masaraure said the salary increment had not  been officially agreed with civil servants as it was not communicated directly to the civil servants.

“It was never a collective bargaining engagement between the government and its employees. Government still has powers to fix salaries of civil servants without going through a genuine process of collective bargaining. All the salaries we are earning were never a product of a genuine collective bargaining process and we don’t have a signed collective bargaining agreement,” Masaraure said.

We reject the 75% increment, both the process and the amount. The amount itself is pathetic and unacceptable. What we need is a genuine reform of the laws governing the civil service. Labour laws governing the civil service should be aligned to the Constitution so that we also have collective bargaining agreements which can govern us.”

In line with the sentiments shared by the Artuz President, Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive officer Sifiso Ndlovu said:

“We have only seen the announcement in the Press. No communication has been made, but what we are looking forward to is a favourable outcome of negotiations whose results we have not received.

We are looking forward to the second meeting and an improvement from the last offer and with a clear roadmap towards restoration of salary levels matching the pre-October 2018 US$550. Anything diverting from the roadmap will be unsatisfactory and unacceptable. Dialogue should demonstrate serious attention to this demand as promised in the NJNC agreement of November 2020.”

Amidst these strikes, the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) is repoetedly set to meet this week to review civil servants’ working conditions.

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