Teachers clash over nationwide strike

The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) has slammed their counterparts the Zimbabwe Teachers Union (ZIMTA) and the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) for calling for the immediate end to the nationwide industrial action.

"The wheels of inevitability have finally delivered the dreaded but expected reality, Sister Unions have jumped ship. Our battle for a living wage which we began in earnest with a 275 km Salary Caravan from Mutare to Harare followed up with a salary Camp at Minister Mthuli's office and capped with a historic job action have been compromised." ARTUZ said in a statement.

ARTUZ said the fellow Unions had an agenda of adulterating the teachers' fight for better wages.

"The so called big Unions stepped in and gave false hope to the teachers yet the intention was to rock the ship which was gathering momentum.

"The fight for a living wage cannot be suspended neither can it be shelved by non-teachers who claim to represent the suffering teachers. We have to fight on but we don't want to be suicidal. The premature withdraw from the job action by the bureaucrats of other Unions will expose the rank and file teachers to gross victimization by the employer."

Commenting on the decisions to call off the Industrial action PTUZ Secretary General Raymond Majongwe said," Truth is teachers will start work tomorrow (Tuesday). Government conceded there was a strike. We will now dialogue as a sector outside the Apex Council. We live to fight another day. Teachers' lives were risk out there. We never sold out."

ARTUZ has issued a four point way forward that teachers must use in light of the new development.

Find the four point plan below:

Amalgamated Rural Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe, ARTUZ calls upon genuine teachers to take this opportunity to sustain a genuine teachers' lead struggle for a living wage. ARTUZ leadership has resolved on the following way forward in light of the betrayal from other Unions,

1) Teachers embark on a sit in preparing for a full blown strike whose dates will be announced soon.
2) Teachers who are incapacitated to report to a School near you. Ask the School Head to inform Public Service that they have received an incapacitated teacher. Perform all duties assigned to you at this school.
3) Teachers to sign a notice of job action. We are targeting a total of 50 000 teachers to sign the notice. The signing will be done both online and physically. The signed notice will be handed over to the employer and a teachers' driven job action will commence 14 days after handing over notice as prescribed by the law.
4) Teachers to continue hosting the Teachers' Unionism Renaissance Forums, TURFs to build awareness of labor rights among the teacher community.

The struggle for a living wage cannot be driven by those who are insulated from the harsh economic realities confronting us. Let's work hand in hand and secure the 50 000 signatures from teachers for our teacher driven job action. An online link for signing the notice will be shared by midday and hard copies will be delivered to schools.

Let's build towards a teacher driven job action.