Teachers call off strike

By Violet Gonda
22 February 2007

Just a day after reports that police had raided some schools and beaten up striking teachers in Harare, the teachers’ unions announced that they have ended their industrial action. On Thursday, Raymond Majongwe the Secretary General of the Progressive Teachers Union (PTUZ) said the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA) proceeded to call off the strike after government announced Wednesday it would give teachers a minimum salary that is close to the poverty datum line (PDL).

He said; “(PTUZ) was caught in a web where on one hand our teachers are saying we need to ask for more but at the same time the people are now tired, there is a lot of victimisation that is going on. There is a lot of violence that is in store to be meted on teachers. Therefore we are simply saying for the benefit of our own children that we teach, for the benefit of the safety of these teachers that we represent we are also calling off the strike and saying we will live to fight another day.”

The PDL is Z$580 800 and the teachers have been given between Z$528 000 and Z$690 000, depending on rank. The lowest paid teachers were earning Z$84 000 as of last week. Inflation is currently at 1600%

Majongwe said: “And we know that while they are going to give us this money it has already been eaten up by inflation but we are working with a very unique group. The Zimbabwean teachers are very difficult to understand.” The outspoken leader said while most teachers have been resilient since the PTUZ started the sit-in over two weeks ago, there are cracks in the general teachers movement which makes it difficult for them to speak with one voice.

He said the other problem is the issue of co-ordinating the groups as teachers are scattered all over the country as compared to co-ordinated actions by nurses and doctors who find themselves in the same places. “Now you are looking at a situation where within a radius of every 5km there is a school all over this country and we are talking of 11 000 schools. Which means ultimately we have a situation where we are really going to have a big problem if we are not in control.”

ZIMTA, the main teachers union, is largely viewed as being sympathetic towards the government and had been refusing to join the strike called by the smaller PTUZ. They only joined the strike action on Monday and now are calling it off. Majongwe said: “We are in a compromising situation. ZIMTA people – who are basically the education officers; the staffing officers; the provincial education directors are the people who have been victimising our membership.”

Majongwe added that negotiations between the government and the other unions were never going to produce meaningful results. He said the authorities would not have given in had it not been for the strike action that was started by the PTUZ. “We have shown that it is the people’s power that matters and the government relented.”

The teachers unions are currently sending information to their structures to return to work.