Teacher pressure group gives unions 48 hour ultimatum

ATEACHERS’ pressure group, Teachers’ Revolutionary Movement ( TEREMO) has given the seven teachers’ union a 48 hour ultimatum in which to hold a joint press statement on matters affecting the teachers.

TEREMO national coordinator, Steward Bwembya confirmed the development in an interview yesterday and that the teachers had run out of patience and were demanding for the unions to disband in order to forge a way forward on the need to form one union.

He said that the teachers were demanding that the seven unions give a joint press statement on critical matters such as the teacher upgrading, promotion, confirmation and resolutions of the technical committee regarding the 2021-2022 collective agreement document.

Mr. Bwembya said that the teachers feel neglected stating that the unions have continued defying the demand to disband so that they pave the way for the formation of one formidable union.

The pressure group leader further alleged that the teachers’ unions were contributing to the poor pupil/ teacher ratio because more than 130 qualified teachers were seated in full time union offices at the expense of the learner. He said that while the government is struggling to balance the teacher/pupil ratio in rural schools, an estimated 130 teachers have migrated to Lusaka on secondment.

Mr. Bwembya who is also Africa federation of Teachers (AFOT) Chief executive director, pointed out that countries like Kenya who had more than 330, 000 teachers only had one union with only 30 teachers seconded to the secretariats. He therefore wondered why Zambia, which had less teachers should continue having an unjustified number of unions that have failed to adequately represent the teachers.

The pressure group leader was however hopeful that the forthcoming Pay-Roll Verification exercise will help to expose the alleged anomalies regarding overstaffing at union secretariats.

He insisted that the teachers will not hesitate to take another route should the unions fail to adhere to the ultimatum given.