The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA), has demanded teachers’ right to collective bargaining under the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC).
The NJNC serves as a platform where the government and unions representing civil servants engage in negotiations with the government related to civil servants’ salaries, benefits, and working conditions.
In a statement issued this Wednesday, 08 May 2023, ZIMTA president Akuneni Maphosa said teachers are disheartened by the government’s reluctance to convene the NJNC. Reads the statement:
As schools open for the second term of 2024, this week, the teaching fraternity, which encompasses teachers, education directors and some lecturers has plunged deeper into the turmoil of struggling to survive with insufficient salaries, a situation which is constantly undermining the quality of education delivery, mostly in the public education system.
Dissatisfied members of the teaching fraternity are sadly trickling back to their workstations under difficult and unforeseen circumstances as the employer has failed to respond to the calls for meetings to discuss salary increases, during the month of April 2024, which should mark the first quarter negotiations of the NJNC meeting which has been the norm over the years.
ZIMTA in its representation of the various structures within the teaching fraternity has made various attempts to draw the employer to the discussion table with no success. Because of this attitude from the employer, members of the teaching fraternity believe that their Right to Collective Bargaining under the NJNC is being infringed upon. We demand to have our RIGHT restored back to us.
As civil servants in the teaching fraternity, we are deeply dissatisfied with the way the employer is failing to set up the rightful mandatory meetings for the workers to further discuss the way forward and increase levels of salaries and allowances for Teachers, this process is long overdue.
As a loyal workforce working under the Public Service Minister, we believe that we have a right to present our grievances, such as the need to have a better salary, therefore we publicly demand that the NJNC must convene as soon as possible.
Because of the current low incomes obtaining in the teaching fraternity, educators are increasingly finding it unsustainable to deliver and facilitate a conducive environment for enabling quality teaching and learning.
The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal number 4, which the Zimbabwean Government is signatory to, will only be achieved on condition that quality public education is well funded and that teachers who are the key facilitators, are motivated and well remunerated through the releasing and payment of improved salaries.
Teachers’ morale matters, yet dissatisfaction caused by poor salaries continues to grow almost monthly as prices of goods and services rise but the salaries of educators are almost on a downward fall. This mismatch is huge.
The issue of awkward grading systems between junior and senior grades is a cause for concern amongst members of the education fraternity and we hereby make an urgent call for the employer to address it alongside the awarding of new salaries for educators.
Finally, we call on the employer to provide a meeting date for a salary review for educators as continued infringements on their right to negotiate for better salaries may have dire consequences and undesirable outcomes that affect Zimbabwe’s delivery of quality public education for all. Access to quality public education is a Right of Every Zimbabwean Citizen.
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