TEACHERS unions yesterday angrily rejected the $400 million deal struck by government and the Apex Council, accusing their representative body of being compromised and working against the improvement of civil servants’ conditions of service.
Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said they were not accepting the offer and their fight for better salaries would continue.
“We can never be happy with that arrangement because in the first instance, when Cecilia Alexander (Apex chairperson) was presenting her arguments, they told us that they were demanding $1 700 and they end up with less than a 10th of that amount in their increment. So how then can we say I am happy?” he asked.
“The real reason we are in this situation is that the Apex Council is pulling cotton over our eyes, they are not representing anyone,” Majongwe said.
Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) said it was disgusted by the “flawed deal” signed between government and the “illegitimate and highly-compromised Apex Council”.
“The deal offers a meagre US$26 salary increment to the current salary of US$120. In total, an average teacher will be earning US$146 in April 2019. This falls far short of US$1 150 needed to sustain a family of five monthly,” the organisation, in a statement, said.
Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) president Richard Gundane said there still existed a gap between the increased salaries and the individual budgets for individual civil servants.
“What is important is to monitor the gap between the new salaries and individual budget for a person. It is that gap that we should continue to pursue. We made this concession with the view that by June we will have an opportunity for it to be reviewed,” he said.
Alexander said it was unfair for PTUZ to undermine the Apex Council’s efforts despite that there was no contribution coming from the organisation.
The council secretary David Dzatsunga hit back at the teachers’ unions, saying they went on a different path to embark on a strike that did not produce anything, hence it would be unfair for them to dismiss their efforts that brought the $400 million package.
“That is false and those allegations are unfounded and are not premised on any substantial and substantive reasons that I could then respond to,” Dzatsunga said.