Tanzania: Teachers' Strike Virtually Certain, Says TTU
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
8 October 2008
Posted to the web 8 October 2008
Lilian Lucas in Morogoro And Irene Mchomvu
With only a week before teachers start a countrywide strike, there was still no indication of averting it reportedly after a meeting between ministry officials and teachers' trade union leaders failed to secure a deal to prevent the strike.
The Tanzania Teachers Union (TTU) said here yesterday that it has been disappointed by media reports that the body has sealed a deal with the government over their claims. They said a strike was inevitable if the government would not take heed of their concerns.
TTU president Gratian Mukona who is in Morogoro with other TTU leaders to deliberate on the 15 October strike and continuing negotiations with the government told The Citizen yesterday that the strike was virtually inevitable.
In Dar es Salaam, the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (Tucta) insisted yesterday the only way for the government to prevent the strike was to fulfill the teachers' concerns, which it says have been neglected for a long time.
Tucta secretary general Nestory Ngula told The Citizen that the umbrella body sees nothing wrong with the teachers' strike and it fully supports it.
"We can not prevent them from striking because we see nothing wrong with the move. The government can avert it by fulfilling their demands. That is the key issue," Mr Ngula affirmed.
Mr Mukoba said their meeting with the government ended without any agreement regarding their demands and that the outcome of the crisis would be known today after the CWT council meets and reaches a decision on the strike.
"What we want is full payment of our claims and not otherwise. If by October 14 our demands have not been agreed upon, the planned strike will go on as planned.
We had issued a notice about eight claims which has not been implemented for six months now," he further noted. He said until now the government has not implemented the key issues contained in their demands including the raising of wages and the payment of salary arrears, for several years.
"What is surprising is that when doctors go on strike their demands are met within days but look at we teachers who since January have been pressing for the same demands. Why do they ridicule us? If the government does not want us go on strike let them pay us," he asserted.
Relevant Links
TTU Vice-President Onorata Chitanda said the strike should not in any way be related to reports of examination leakage because teachers are not involved at any stage in setting exams and publishing the papers.
Read comments. Write your own.
|
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright © 2008 The Citizen. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Make allAfrica.com your home page
|
RSS Feed
Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
