Chronicle Editor
Teachers, who announced a few weeks ago that they would go on strike starting yesterday, called off the planned job action, a decision that is truly commendable.
The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Professor Paul Mavima met representatives of teachers’ unions in Harare on Monday.
As he has always done, the minister honestly explained the economic challenges that make it impossible for the Government to further review teachers’ salaries.
He laid out at the same meeting a more concrete plan by the employer to implement non-monetary incentives not only for educators, but all civil servants.
We are encouraged that the majority of teachers’ unions appreciate the difficult position that the Government is in and took the decision to shelve the scheduled strike to give room for the in-kind incentives to be implemented as well as the salary review expected to take effect in the next two months or so.
If it had gone ahead, the industrial action was not only going to affect pupils who lost a week of valuable learning time mid last month due to the violent opposition-led stay-away, but also harm the image of the country.
“We agreed on actions with regards to teacher welfare issues that are within the purview of the ministry,” Prof Mavima said.
“There are other welfare issues like level of salary that is not within the purview of this ministry. Those are being held at the National Joint Negotiating Council where they are represented by Apex Council. But there are issues where we are advocating for the housing of teachers and strategies to ensure that every teacher has a plot or place where they can build houses or where they can get basic core houses. There are also certain things we can do as Government to empower them economically. We didn’t just talk. We set up task teams which include representatives of teachers unions and people within the ministry to ensure that there is actual implementation of everything we agreed on.”
The Zimbabwe National Teachers’ Union and the Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe immediately announced that they would not mobilise their members for a strike but instead, give further negotiations a chance.
At the Monday meeting, the Government and teachers’ unions set a time-bound pathway that would see the employer paying relevant teachers acting, head of department and examination allowances; addressing their accommodation challenges by offering them residential stands while unfreezing a ban on annual leave and annual leave on transfer.
A plan would also be worked out to ensure that educators don’t pay fees for their children, at least three per individual, if they are enrolled in public schools.
When public sector salary negotiations resumed last month, the Government offered $160 million to be shared by its employees between April and December this year.
Civil servants turned it down, forcing the employer to improve the offer to $300 million.
They turned it down also and the President chipped in with $63 million to cushion workers.
We acknowledge that the monetary offer by the Government does not meet the expectations of the teachers as well as other civil servants amid the prevailing economic environment. Indeed their salaries have always been on the lower side in recent years.
Their buying power was further eroded from October last year when prices of all goods and services in the economy trebled.
However, civil servants must be assured that the Government is sincere in its efforts to pay its workers higher salaries and improving their working conditions.
President Mnangagwa has, at various fora, regretted the impact of the prevailing economic conditions on people’s well being, including that of civil servants.
He has expressed the Government’s commitment to ensuring that their packages are improved.
The biggest challenge, he has said and as we all know, is the limited fiscal space that does not allow the Government to pay civil servants higher salaries.
The President himself, his two deputies, ministers, deputy ministers, permanent secretaries, principal directors, directors and other senior Government officials took a five percent salary cut last month.
In addition, the Government has said it will not buy new vehicles for senior officials.
The measures are in line with the “austerity for prosperity” watchword that is guiding Government business in the Second Republic.
To stimulate economic recovery and sustainable growth in an environment where foreign assistance is non-existent, the Government has no choice but to strive to live within its means.
We are happy, as pupils and their parents must be too, that teachers showed an appreciation that the Government totally lacks the capacity to pay them better wages amid the economic challenges, thus called off the planned strike.
This is a very important decision because instability in the labour market so soon after the ruinous opposition stay-away and the junior doctors’ strike was going to unsettle the potential investors that the country desperately need to rebuild the economy.
Another strike was going to result in bad Press for our country as well. Vultures in the local political opposition and the country’s traditional foreign detractors were likely to intensify their evil designs against the country.
Equally important, another strike was going to affect pupils who must learn without any disruptions.
We are hopeful that the austerity measures that the Government is putting in place will indeed lead to prosperity.
When the prosperity is achieved, as will indeed happen soon, the Government would be able to pay teachers as well as other civil servants higher salaries and improve their working conditions.
Online Reporter