Teachers Union of Malawi threaten strike in May: ‘Pay our arrears’
Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) Secretary General, Charles Kumchenga has warned government to pay teachers their outstanding arrears by May, saying if it does not comply teachers would stage an ‘industrial action.’
In an interview in Mulanje Tuesday, he said they are asking government to settle all the arrears come May this year or they would be forced to protest.
“As we are speaking, we have already informed government that if they fail to pay the arrears to the teachers then teachers are going to call for an industrial action,” Kumchenga said.
TUM Secretary General said currently about 921 teachers’ files are being audited in Salima and that the auditors would soon be sent to district councils to audit primary school teachers’ files.
“We want payment to be made by May so that teachers start receiving their arrears in February and March should be the cut-off point,” Kumchenga added.
On the recent development where government announced that it will promote 14, 000 teachers, he said they received the news with mix feelings considering that the figure is lower compared to the total number of teachers in the country.
“We are a little bit happy because that is one way of motivating the teachers who are doing great work on the ground.
“But we are not fully happy because if you compare the numbers, you will see that it is small. We are about 80, 000 and that includes primary and secondary school teachers and those from teachers training colleges,” Kumchenga added.
He said that on the overall TUM was excited that at least government has started responding to their demands, saying, “The figure is really a small fraction and it is something that needs to be looked into
We are tired of hearing strike things from you aziphunzitsi shupiti. Tazingovalani zima skirt zazitali zitali ndizima half za green ndi yellow apa. When did u start talking about strikes, and do you go for those strikes? Used citizens of Malawi. Fotseki zanu
M’wenye Bwabwarara ndi mzache ziboda akungoba ndalama zaboma aphunzitsi akuvutika zoona inu koma? God of Abraham, please listen to our prayers!
Kikikikikikikikikikiki planninng for a strike 4 months a head!!
You can’t be serious or that desparate , you are going to wait till May to strike to get your arrears???? It must be nice !
My comment is based on assumption since i do not have facts at hand.Is 14000 based on vacancies or promoting teachers to earn a higher pay but doing the same job or what.to my knowledge promotion should go with higher authority and complexity of the ones job from the previous one.what the govt( any that is) need to do is to come up with a good salary package or packages for certain professionals otherwise just promoting will result in every one becoming a supervisor and the system will collapse again.What people most is good working conditions that include good perks.
Unfortunately TUM can not be taken seriously. We have heard alot of threats from TUM but no action has ever followed the threat. The Government knows how to cheat them and coll them down.
More fire!!! You will be paid because of the elections. Take advantage of the elections and make your demands now
If you there is group of civil servant which is suffering then it’s teachers.Even members at Parliament are unable to say something on the suffering of teachers.Most of the professionals were taught by teachers but they remain the sufferers in the society.They work for so many years without being promoted.They even fail to pay tuition fees for their children in colleges.Even TUM is not helping teachers.l experienced that myself working for twenty two years without being promoted.Please those in authority think about teachers.They are the source of everything.You can not talk about quality education then you negrect teachers,you can not… Read more »
If you were a teacher for 22yrs, you should know when to use ‘l’ and when to use ‘r’ in English. The word is ‘neglect’ and not ‘negrect’. This is a common mistake made by many so-called educated people in Malawi. The teachers of English are unable to speak and write the language correctly. So much for the quality of teaching.