Lecturers at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) have declared incapacitation and are demanding United States dollar salaries.
The Association of University Teachers (AUT), which represents the interests of academic staff at universities, has since written a letter addressed to the Ministry of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare.
AUT said UZ lecturers no longer afford to come to work, feed their families and meet other normal expenses such as school fees, medical bills and rent. Part of the letter reads:
To illustrate the situation, as of October 2018, a junior lecturer’s monthly salary was US$2 258, (“pre-October 2018 salary scales”)…
By September 2022, the situation had reached unconscionable levels of a salary worth less than US$200 for a junior lecturer.
Such a salary was lower than the lowest-paid general worker in the private sector.
By the commencement of 2023, the situation had sharply deteriorated. The deductions for normal services like medical aid, pension, funeral policies and motor vehicle insurance were now more than the salary.
In fact, staff was now earning what the university termed ‘negative salaries’. Deductions deducted were more than the salary.
AUT also revealed that efforts to engage Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Amon Murwira over their plight have been unsuccessful. Reads the letter:
The minister was not sympathetic and disclaimed responsibility for the welfare of employees of State universities.
He categorically stated that the responsible authorities and employers were the university councils and not the government.
He stated that the government only provided a grant to assist the universities, which were expected to come up with their own other independent means of self-funding.
The majority of workers in the private and public sectors are pushing for their salaries to be paid in foreign currency amid a sharp depreciation in the value of the Zimbabwe dollar.
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