COMMENT: We implore teachers to return to the classroom

GOVERNMENT has warned teachers that are not reporting for duty that they risk losing their salaries when it enforces the “no work, no pay” policy. The teachers that are not reporting for work are citing incapacitation.

The situation of teachers not reporting for duty is more pronounced in Bulawayo and Harare as teachers elsewhere have ignored the call for a strike by unions.

Government has this month increased civil servants’ salaries by 25 percent and has said it will pay another 50 percent in June. The move by Government is meant to cushion its workers as collective bargaining negotiations under the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) continue.

Government which has once again demonstrated that it is sensitive to the plight of its workers, said the payment of a top-up has no bearing on the ongoing salary negotiations. It is unfortunate that some teachers have decided to withdraw their labour despite Government sacrificing the limited resources at its disposal to improve their salaries.

We want at this juncture to applaud the teachers that have chosen to engage their employer as opposed to being confrontational. It should be appreciated that for any negotiations to succeed, the parties involved must be prepared to move from their initial positions.

Government and the civil servants must, at the end of the day, find each other despite the challenging prevailing economic environment.

Government has, since January last year, been reviewing its workers’ salaries despite the limited resources at its disposal, a fact which we have no reason to doubt, civil servants including teachers, appreciate.

We have said it before that employers can only pay salaries they can afford and Government is no exception. It is therefore, important for parties involved in the collective bargaining negotiations to seriously consider the issue of affordability.

The Zimbabwean economy like the rest of the world, has been adversely affected by the impact of Covid-19 and as such many sectors of the economy are still in the woods.

Government revenue comes mainly from taxes so if companies are not doing well, it means reduced revenue inflows into the Government coffers. The Public Service Commission (PSC) Secretary Ambassador Jonathan Wutawunashe said the prolonged economic shutdown period owing to the lockdown measures instituted to manage the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in revenue generation being reduced to virtual insignificance and teachers should understand this better.

We want to once again implore teachers to return to the classroom while negotiations continue. Teachers, we want believe, are passionate about their profession and would not want to destroy the future of their pupils.