The Progressive Teachers Union Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has called for unity among teachers at all levels in demanding the restoration of their pre-October 2018 salaries where the average teacher was paid above US$500.
Last week the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Tumisang Thabela, said school heads will get allowances that will be determined by the grade of their schools.
But PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou urged schools heads to reject the token allowances and instead join other teachers in demanding the restoration of their salaries. Said Zhou:
Insinuations that School heads will get a salary boost is at best a fantasy and at worst a fabrication trying to ululate at an insult.
Any school head worthy of his/her salt must realise that even a 100% offer on current salary will still fall far short of the US$540 average earned by teachers before October 2018.
What more of allowances ranging between 10% and 25% of basic salary? A worthy battle for all teachers is, therefore, the restoration of the purchasing power parity of the salaries of teachers as of pre-October 2018.
As PTUZ we dont see how school heads must salivate at poisoned carrots of meaningless allowances, unilaterally given by the employer.
We reiterate our long held view that only a living wage is a recipe for quality public education.
Any attempt to create a gulf between school heads and teachers must be seen in a true sense of weakening the united struggle for status restoration.
Teachers across the board must remain United by their poverty and ready to fight incapacitation struggle by all means necessary.
Zhou called on teachers to continue to report for a maximum of two days a week, and a minimum of a day a week on Monday or/and Tuesday due to their incapacitation.
He said PTUZ members should be ready to escalate their fight for a living wage by refusing to be invigilators for end of year public examinations.