Malawi govt bid to halt teachers salary fail

Ministry of Education has failed to reach an agreement with the Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM)  to stop a strike which starts Monday when public scholls open.

TUM said the strike is part of a campaign to force government  fulfil their commitment  it made at a meeting the Government Negotiating Team (GNT) held wtih the union’s leadership in May  2016.

During a meeting on Friday, GNT and TUM ended in deadlock as government failed to convince the union that they would address their grievenaces.

Spokesperson of Ministry of Education, Manfred Ndovie said: “The moment we afre trying to address one grienance, another one crops up. It is like everyday thet are bringing new grievances.”

He said TUM has brought in new grievance of unpaid examination invigilation feed.

TUM president Muwake Chauluka  accused the government of ‘dilly –dallying’  in resolving their long-standing grievenaces  while speaking to Nyasa Times  about some of the challenges the teachers are facing.
“Government has failed to resolve our grievenaces. We feel cheated and , as such, we  are not yielding to their lies this time,” Muwake said.

The teachers are demanding their payment arrears of leave grants allocated in 2015/16 fiscal year and payment of salary arrears as well.

Government agreed to pay all promoted teachers starting May and the last group in June but that has not been implemented.

MNdovie said they have indeed failed to resolve the grievenances due to financial hiccups and that TUM “keep changing goal posts”.

Teachers make up the highest percentage of the civil servants with over 80,000 teachers believed to be serving in public schools.

 

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