Teachers call off their planned strike

TEACHERS' unions have called off their planned strike which was scheduled to coincide with the schools' opening day today, saying they would devise other strategies to pressure government to address their grievances.

Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta) president Richard Gundane told NewsDay yesterday that their members would go back to work as usual while they sought to engage the government to reinstate over 3 000 teachers removed from the Civil Service Commission payroll after they were deemed to be "ghost workers".

Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said it would be "folly" to go ahead with the planned industrial action.

"We will negotiate our way out of this issue, but our position is that we are leading very disgruntled members and the government needs to come up with a feasible plan," he said.

"Our message to our members is: Go back to school and teach the children, but stand up and fight."