Zadock Tuhimbisibwe, the UNATU national chairperson, says that the submissions from the Ministry of Public Service needed to be studied before a final decision or response is made.
The Uganda
National Teachers Union-UNATU has started consulting members and other stakeholders
in light of a fresh deal tabled by the government intended to end the ongoing
teacher’s strike.
For two weeks, teachers refused to go back to classrooms in favor of raising
their pay and achieving overall fairness and harmonization of the salary
structures. As a result of the strike, learning has slowed across the country,
and many students have stopped attending school completely.
The
government declared the strike to be unlawful during the first week and
threatened to remove teachers from the civil service payroll. Teachers
persisted, though, and the government quickly invited them back to the
negotiating table.
As part of the negotiation, the Ministry of Public Service has penned more
promises to the teachers delivered in two separate letters.
In the first letter dated June 30 addressed to the Secretary-General of UNATU,
the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Public Service, Catherine Bitarakwate
Musingwiire, noted that the government has taken serious consideration of the
concerns presented and thus coming up with a solution.
"The matter has been discussed and consultations escalated to the
Executive of Government. In this regard, I hereby convey the commitment of the
Government to implement the approved pay plan concerning all Teachers including
Primary School Teachers and employees in the entire Public Service. This will
be undertaken within the medium term," the letter reads in part.
On the same day, the Minister of Public Service Wilson Muruli Mukasa also
penned a lengthy letter to the UNATU national chairperson. In the letter, the minister
justified the need for the enhancement of salaries for natural scientists.
“The Government intends to enhance the pay of all its employees in the medium
and long run as the resources become available through the further expansion of
the economic sectors that have already recovered (agriculture, industry,
services, ICT). It is these sectors, as they expand, that will give us the
money (in the form of taxes) that will enable us to cover more priorities
including paying all the public servants better,” Muruli Mukasa noted.
Muruli Mukasa, whose message was intended to persuade teachers to return to the
classroom, could not help but retaliate against striking teacher by declaring
that it amounts to sabotage for anyone to vehemently refuses to resume work
unless everybody is paid well now or everybody is democratically
underpaid.
With the two
letters being received by UNATU, leaders at the teacher's house have canceled
intentions to attend a scheduled meeting with the Ministry of Public Service.
“They have communicated their positions and leaders here see no reason to go to
the meeting anymore, '' a source from UNATU noted.
Zadock Tuhimbisibwe, the UNATU national chairperson, says that the submissions
from the ministry of public service needed to be studied before a final
decision or response is made.
According to
Tuhimbisibwe, the union’s top leadership has sent out a letter to their branch
members to seek their opinion on the deal offered.
//Cue in; “I want to…
Cue out…be made thereafter.”//
The union is also conducting stakeholder engagements in Kampala. For instance,
on Friday, the national chairperson and two workers' MPs discussed the same
issue in a closed-door meeting.
Tuhimbisibwe says the ongoing consultations at all levels are also geared
towards digesting the technical language entailed in the letters from the
Ministry and seeking a general concuss on the next step to be taken. He says
that they intend to write a response to the two letters and seek clarification
on what the government means to implement the approved payment plan within the
medium term.
With clarification from the government, the union’s top organ- the national
executive council, and branch leaders will meet on Sunday. Tuhimbisibwe adds that
the union will declare whether to continue with the industrial action or have
teachers return to the classroom.
//Cue in; “And we have…
Cue out…those meeting.”//
Teopista
Birungi Mayanja, the founder of UNATU, advised that teachers should insist that
government either introduce a supplementary budget to raise pay for what has
been described as art teachers or distribute the available wage among all
teachers for equity purposes as they prepare the promised pay raise.
The current impasse resulted from the government's decision to increase the pay
for science teachers nearly by 300 percent in disregard of their colleagues in
arts and humanities. The increment saw the government increase the pay for
graduate and grade V science teachers to Shillings 4 million and Shillings 3
million up from Shillings 1.1 million and Shillings 796,000 respectively.
UNATU has proposed that the government should pay shillings 4.8 million to
graduate science teachers and shillings 4.5 million to those teaching arts and
humanities. They are also advocating for a Shillings 1.35 million minimum wage
for primary school teachers.