By Tafadzwa Chigandiwa
President for the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) Obert Masaraure has said teachers must instruct government to pay them improved salaries or face their absentism from work.
Masaraure’s sentiments follows after the the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Cain Mathemba said the government will embark on a principle to only pay teachers who are reporting for duty.
Speaking to Bustop TV, ARTUZ president said government’s proposition to say ‘no work, no pay’ is not new because teachers have been ‘underpaid’ for a very longtime.
“There is nothing new when government says ‘no work, no pay’ teachers have been working with little or no pay for a very longtime,” he said.
Adding on to his comment, Masaraure also said:
“What has been missing is ‘no pay, no work’ instruction from the teachers.”
The ARTUZ leader also revealed that the Ministry of Education is obliged to pay teachers adequate salaries to ensure that there is high quality education to all the pupils across the country.
“It is government’s mandate to pay teachers wages that can capacitate and enable them to deliver quality work to a million of children in Zimbabwe and we urge government to act responsible and pay teachers enough salaries.
“Teachers are not asking for more but they are requesting their employer to offer them a living wage. They are boldly saying they are no longer going to work unless they get paid improved salaries,” Masaraure told Bustop TV.
Government and teachers have been on loggerheads over ‘poor’ salaries since October 2018.
Since then, the latter has engaged the former several times, requesting to be paid in US Dollars indicating that ZWL RTGS Dollars are not sustaining their livelihood.
