We Respect Teachers But They Should Be Realistic - Minister Mavima

The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Paul Mavima said that while it was the Government’s desire to improve the welfare of teachers, they should be realistic and avoid making outrageous demands.

Responding to journalists at the post-Cabinet briefing in Harare on Tuesday evening, Minister Mavima said “all genuine” unions representing teachers have agreed to the 41 per cent pay hike and a roadmap whereby negotiations between the employer and employees continue. Said Mavima:

We need to be realistic, we need to look to our fiscal space, economic conditions and realistically demand things that leave us as a country with the stability that we have achieved and also saying how do we move from here to where we want to go.

We want to give our teachers a status they deserve but it has to be a realistic process.

All genuine unions who do not have other agendas than the welfare of teachers are going to agree to this roadmap and the country will move forward.

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Mavima said Government had between February and November moved from where teachers were complaining of earning the equivalent of US$30 and US$40 to where now they are earning more than US$200.

Meanwhile, some unions representing teachers such as the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) have accused the Apex Council and the Zimbabwe Teachers Union (ZIMTA) of betraying teachers.

More: The Herald