President Emmerson Mnangagwa has met representatives of the
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) who requested that government
increases their salaries to at least $3 000 or put it in US dollar equivalent.
The PTUZ leadership, led by its President, Dr Takavafira
Zhou and Secretary General Raymond Majongwe, acknowledged that the meeting with
Cde Mnangagwa was fruitful and historic in that it was the first time the union
has met the presidium face to face to present their grievances.
At the meeting, President Mnangagwa committed to deliberate
with relevant ministers on ways to address the plight of teachers, but the PTUZ
representatives viewed the meeting as an opportunity to score a political point
over rival teachers’ associations.
From the brief, the Zhou, Majongwe and other union leaders
gave journalists audience where the former noted that teachers were not
speaking with one voice in presenting their grievances to government, with
their leaders more keen to play union politics instead of genuinely
representing the interests of their members.
Majongwe claimed that despite being allegedly sidelined
from other Apex Council meetings because of perceived ideological differences
with other teachers’ unions, the meeting with President Mnangagwa was a sign
that they are a key constituency.
In a document made available to the ZBC News at the
meeting, the PTUZ also requested the government to introduce several new
allowances, among them grade 7 allowance, invigilation allowance and ECD risk
allowance.
They also requested that teachers be exempted from paying
tuition fees for their children. zbc
0 comments:
Post a Comment