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| Darasa mmoja mwalimu mmoja wanafunzi 70 |
The announcement came on 4 August, a day after the Labour Division of
the Tanzania High Court declared the strike staged on 30 July illegal.
Around 3,700 primary school teachers and 4,300 secondary school teachers
in public schools went on strike then after the government and the
teachers’ union failed to agree on the teachers’ pay rise.
Union prepares to appeal
“Our lawyers will assess the directives issued by High Court Judge
Sophia Wambura,” said TTU President Gratian Mukoba. “They will also
advise us as we prepare to appeal. In its ruling, the High Court, among
other things, ordered the TTU leadership to ask all its members to
resume their duties effective on Friday. We have already done that.”
He also indicated that “the ruling has disappointed teachers,
considering that the employer – the Government – does not seem to care
about their genuine demands. Taking this matter to court was not the
best option.”
Arrested teachers must be released
Mukoba appealed to the police to release without conditions all of the
teachers who were arrested in connection with the ongoing strike. He
denied allegations that some teachers were coercing colleagues who had
been unwilling to participate in the strike. “It is not true that there
are teachers inciting colleagues and pupils to strike and revolt,” said
Mukoba.
“Some teachers also told us that in the Coast, Morogoro and Ruvuma
regions, some teachers, administrators and union leaders have been
receiving threats from authorities that they will be arrested and
prosecuted.”
Salary demands
The teachers had demanded a doubling of their salary with an additional
55 per cent hardship allowance for science and mathematics teachers and
50 per cent for teachers of other subjects. They also demanded another
30 per cent allowance for teachers working in hostile circumstances.
Moreover, the teachers also want to be paid their salary and allowance
arrears accumulated for many years.
Judge’s ruling
However, the union’s case did not hold favour with the High Court. “I
hold that the strike, which has been going on for three days, is
unlawful,” Judge Sophia Wambura ruled. “I order that it should be
terminated immediately and all teachers who are on strike to resume
their duties forthwith."
She noted that, according to the Employment Labour Relations Act, the
respondents were required to provide 48-hour notice to the employer
prior to the commencement of the strike. “But, the notice was given on a
Friday evening, falling on the weekend, and the employer did not get
enough time to safeguard its properties as required by law. The notice
does not state when the strike will end and the strike, which is
indefinite, is by itself unlawful.”
The judge advised that, since all parties have expressed a need to
return to the negotiation table, they should make deliberate efforts to
reach an amicable settlement.
Ready to negotiate
Mukoba underlined that TTU leaders were ready to meet with the
government provided the latter would cooperate and faithfully consider
teachers’ demands.
“We don’t understand why the government refused to meet with us to
discuss the matter on how we could solve the crisis,” he said. “They
should understand that threats will not help solve the problems we
have.”
EI: Educators’ collective bargaining must be respected
EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen said: “We support our Tanzanian
colleagues’ demands for negotiations concerning their status. The
Government must understand that respecting educators’ trade union rights
and ensuring they get decent work conditions will improve quality
public education, therefore helping this country achieve Education For
All by 2015.”
The Resolution from the African Region
adopted at the 6th EI World Congress, held in Cape Town, South Africa,
in July 2011, also observes that, “in Africa, the trade union
organisations in the education sector are essential for democratic
development and social progress”.
It considers that the strength of the trade unions in the education
sector is measured by their members in terms of their democratic nature
and their strategies for independence and unity in relation to
employers, governments, political parties and all external forces.
This resolution further notes “the persistent violation by the majority
of African governments of national and international legal instruments
for the defence and promotion of trade union rights and particularly the
right to collective bargaining and the right of trade union
organisations to be involved in defining national education policies”.
