Zimbabwe Teachers Win 754% Pay Increase
Children queueing for food in a Zimbabwe school
Zimbabwe teachers ended their three week strike today after winning a pay hike from the beleagured Zimbabwe Government shortly before the general election.
The strike, which has been marked by violence, arrests and harrasment from the police was supported by 100,000 teachers. Raymond Majongwe, leader of the teachers’ union has said that while the pay increase is welcome there are many issues still to be addressed and that whichever government is elected on March 29th should be prepared for an uncompromising stance from the union. He is quoted in the press as saying:
“The reluctance by the employer to increase the transport and housing allowances while significantly reviewing the basic salary is motivated by the government’s desire to tax teachers at 47,5%. This will seriously erode the gains accruing from the salary review.”
The country is still in the midst of an economic crisis marked by the world’s highest inflation rate.
March 16 2008 02:08 pm | General
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.