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Teachers press on with plan to strike
2008-02-12 10:01:12
By Lusekelo Philemon
The Tanzania Teachers Union (CWT) has said the planned countrywide strike set for May 1 will still take place in spite of Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda`s pledge to address their grievances.
According union officials, the proposed industrial action has been necessitated by the government`s failure to pay 9.5bn/- in salary increment and allowance arrears to its members.
The statement came barely three days since the newly appointed Prime Minister pledged to solve their problems.
Pinda said on Saturday that the government would clear the debt before things got worse.
``The Prime minister has pledged to resolve the problem. We can only wait for the promise to be fulfilled within our time frame,`` said CWT president Gratian Mukoba.
In an interview with The Guardian in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Mukoba stressed that the PM’s pledge should be fulfilled within the union’s ultimatum.
``If the PM fails to meet our demands, we will proceed with the planned strike scheduled for May 1, this year,`` he said.
CWT said the reason for calling the nationwide strike had been prompted by the government’s failure to pay them accumulated health and leave allowances, cost of upgrading skills and salary increases.
According to the CWT President, the changes in the cabinet line up had nothing to do with their demands.
``The government owes us billions of shillings,`` Mukoba said.
The CWT leader said if the government failed to meet their demands by the end of this month, the union would issue a 60-day notice of intention to strike.
Once the period expired, they would strike “indefinitely” until all arrears were paid, he said.
He added: ``We have submitted a letter to the government. We are only waiting for the authorities to act on our grievances.``
If implemented, the decision will affect more than three million primary and secondary school pupils.
The Teachers Union boasts of 156,923 members, who account for roughly 76 per cent of all teachers in Tanzania.
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