Lecturers to strike over bonuses and January salaries

STATE university lecturers are reportedly planning a countrywide job action that will see them not attending lectures until Government comes up with a position regarding their bonuses and January salaries.

Impeccable sources revealed that the lecturers had not been paid their January salaries and bonuses with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education saying they were still in the process of raising funds with no clear timeframe set for them to have been paid.

It was further revealed that a delegation from the Zimbabwe State Universities Union of Academics (ZISUUA) on Friday met officials from the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development but they reached a deadlock with no way forward being derived.

"As it stands, lecturers are this week definitely going on strike over the bonus issue and the January salaries because the Government is not clear when they are going to pay us. We are civil servants but it seems we still remain as the only civil servants who have still not received their bonuses and we are now close to approaching mid-February and nothing is being said about our January salaries, hence the general consensus is to stop teaching all conventional classes until they commit themselves," said the source.

Contacted for comment, ZISUUA national president, who is also the National University of Science and Technology Educators Association president Mr Alois Mazvuwe confirmed that they met Government officials on Friday and had reached a deadlock regarding the issue of their bonuses and salaries.

Regarding the possibility of a job action, Mr Mazvuwe, however, said they were still to meet their union members and will report back and then a way forward will be decided on.

"Yes, we met officials from the two ministries on Thursday and Friday and their position is that they have not mobilied enough funds for our January salaries let alone our bonuses. What is particularly worrying is that they are not even clear when this will happen or when they will pay us.

"Regarding the issue of bonuses, we appreciate that they had said they would stagger payments but our set date has long passed, we now don't even know when they will pay us and they are not saying or committing themselves. What will now happen is that as a union we will meet our members and decide what our next step will be, we cannot just decide on a strike before meeting our membership," said Mr Mazvuwe.

He said under normal circumstances they were supposed to have received their bonuses by end of November last year.

"All we are saying is that we are also civil servants hence we deserve to at least have an idea when our salaries or bonuses will come," he said.

This is not the first time that university lecturers have clashed with either Government or universities' administrations over unpaid allowances and salaries.

In March last year, Nust academic staff went on strike and abandoned parallel and masters' classes after the university management allegedly failed to pay them for their services.

The defiant lecturers were later dragged to the Ministry of Labour by the university management, in a bid to end the impasse.

After protracted negotiations the university finally bowed to pressure and agreed to pay the lecturers their dues.