Teachers, university staff give notice to strike

Zimbabwe’s education sector is set to suffer another heavy blow after teachers and state university employees gave notice to embark on a nationwide industrial action starting on Monday 22 March to press for better working conditions, write Tatenda Chitagu and Vanessa Gonye for NewsDay.

State university employees gave a 14-day notice to the public service ministry announcing their intention to embark on a strike in protest over low wages. Their notice came at a time government has approved a 200% hike in university fees, which will result in students at state universities forking out between Z$25,000 and Z$40,000 per semester, up from Z$9,000 (about US$100).

“This is a 14-day notice of intention to embark on a strike by the Zimbabwe Universities and Allied Workers Union (ZUAWU) and the Zimbabwe State Universities Union of Academics (ZISUUA), hereby referred to as the Zimbabwe State Universities Joint Council, on behalf of all state universities’ workers. The employees demand that the employer makes urgent steps to attain the regional level salary scales as per the agreements of 2010,” read the letter by Alois Muzvuwe and Readyforward Dube, the ZISUUA and ZUAWU representatives.
Full report on the NewsDay site