AMALGAMATED Rural Teachers Association of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) secretary general Robson Chere has bemoaned government’s decision to ignore their plight, and warned that their silence should not be taken for weakness or cowardice.
Teachers, represented by ARTUZ and various other unions, are demanding a US$1,260 monthly salary, up from not more than US$350 they currently earn.
The US$350 is paid in ZiG, Zimbabwe’s latest of the many failed currencies it has introduced since the early 2000s.
Government has been evasive and seems not interested in dialoguing with teachers over the matter, according to their unions.
Efforts to sit and resolve the wage crisis have constantly hit a snag. Reports indicate that Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education officials, including the Minister Torerai Moyo, have avoided meetings with teachers’ associations.
“Without us is definitely against us. We have been patient with the employer thus far, we have reached out, negotiated and been treated in bad faith,” said Chere, at the annual congress held in Jotsholo, Matabeleland North.
“We have received contempt and abuse in response, arrests, suspensions, and illegal disciplinary hearings. We are not weaklings, we are not cowards, we are not secondary citizens, we are patriotic professionals.”
Calls for protests, stay-aways and go-slows have dominated schools’ opening days each term since government slashed salaries for teachers.
These calls have often been labelled anti-establishment, sponsored and unpatriotic.
Added Chere: “There is no one with monopoly over patriotism in this country, if we were not patriotic, we would not have been here.
“We choose not to go to greener pastures to actually sacrifice and serve our country.”
