Teachers stand by right to strike
“Tackle problems in education”
Teachers’ unions have slammed a call by the Department of Labour to declare education an essential service as an attempt to weaken teachers’ bargaining powers.
Teachers’ unions pledged solidarity with Equal Education, saying teachers have a right to strike as they work under stressful conditions.
Last month, the Department of Labour’s essential services committee issued a public notice of the government’s intention to review its list of essential services under the Labour Relations Act (LRA).
The review would make it permissible for the government to prohibit strikes in certain public service departments included in the list.
South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) spokeswoman Nomusa Cembi said they viewed this call as “a stunt of a broken system”.
“Teachers cannot lose their rights to strike because of a broken system. Our education at the moment is of [a] poor standard because we don’t get enough support. Teachers are also workers [and] have a right to express their grievances.”
Basil Manuel of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) said the government must deal with the working conditions of teachers.
“Teachers are often expected to facilitate learning under extremely difficult circumstances and to support learners in ways that extend far beyond curriculum delivery.
“Teachers need to be appreciated, respected and be treated with dignity. Declaring education an essential service will just undermine the legitimacy of the grievances that teachers try to raise through the right to strike. This investigation is detracting from the real challenges in education.”
Equal Education spokeswoman Leanne JansenThomas said declaring education an essential service would not solve the fundamental and prevailing problems.
“We cannot ignore that the teaching profession is faced with challenges such as teacher absenteeism, poor subject content knowledge and corruption in the appointment of principals,” she said. “However we know a lot is expected from teachers. As a country we need to … address the causes that leave teachers dissatisfied with their income, their work environment and with the Department of Basic Education, to the loss of learners.”
The departmental spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said an essential service is critical in any country’s development. “However, the International Labour Organisation [ILO] [does not define] the education sector… an essential service.
As the department, we align ourselves with the ILO. For now we are observing the process under way.”