The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) fully backs the efforts of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) to improve the welfare and conditions of service for teachers in Zimbabwe.
For some time now, ARTUZ has been demanding that authorities improve the poor working conditions in schools, but this has been falling on deaf ears. It is a fact that teachers are now incapacitated and can no longer render services because they are getting pittance as pay. Teachers are currently earning US$30 which is way below the US$500 they used to earn before the introduction of the RTGS Dollar. The current salaries have reduced teachers and other civil servants to paupers. The noble profession of teaching has now been reduced to a joke.
The so-called $400 cushioning allowance agreed falls far short of the monthly needs of the teachers.
The ZCTU urges the government to seriously look into the demands by teachers and the rest of civil service for a review of their salaries to realistic levels to ensure uninterrupted services.
Source: Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
