Teachers escalate USD salary fight
TEACHERS Unions have intensified demand for United-States-dollar (USD) salaries from the government as the cost of living continues to erode local currency earnings.
They are pushing for a restoration of their pre-October 2018 salaries that were equivalent to USD$540.
Recently, teachers warned of an impending strike when schools open for the first term unless the government improves their conditions of service. This week, schools opened for examination classes only as authorities are trying to contain the spread of Covid-19.
“The teachers are not asking for a salary increase. We don’t need an increment, we just need the restoration of our pre-October 2018 salaries.
“The government itself is well aware that the local currency has been eroded; it is no longer stable, that is why they are even receiving tax contributions in foreign currency,” Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) president Obert Musaraure said.
He said teachers were earning around ZW$18 000 (about US$165), and with the fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates and unstable prices, the teachers can no longer afford to take care of their families.
“We have been robbed and they continue to rob us yet the government always declares a budget surplus. That surplus is our salary. We are not going to be sacrificed in pursuit of an economic policy that has not worked anywhere,” he added.
There are rising concerns that the government made a promise to teachers, which they are failing to deliver, hence the teachers’ unions are calling demanding an urgent redress of the salary problem.
“We don’t want an increase; we want to be paid in USD, the government must honour its obligation,” the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe secretary general Raymond Majongwe.
Government has since 2018 ignored demands for US dollar salaries or the Zimbabwean dollar equivalent. Since January last year, the government has been making regular salary and pension adjustments but inflation has eroded the earnings.