Teachers' unions reduced to burial societies-BOSETU

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Wednesday June 22, 2011 00:00

 

Shandukani Hlabano was responding to the amendment by the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs to include teachers as part of essential services. Government has moved swiftly and amended the Trade Dispute Act to include teachers as essential services, which means that they can no longer participate in any industrial action over wages.

However, Hlabano said that the unions were not consulted nor informed of the decision to amend the Act. 'They should have consulted us as unions because one cannot do certain things that affects the lives of other people without seeking their input,' Hlabano said.

He further said government must have realised that teachers' participation in the suspended strike made more impact with the collapse of the education system that will take long to recover.

He stated that there is nowhere in the world where education is classified as essential. 'There is a difference between essential service and important service. Education is important to society but not essential,' he said, explaining that by international practice essential services refers to professions where service not rendered endangers people's lives.

'They just wanted to make sure that if the strike resumes teachers should not participate but this is just a rape of the justice system. You don't do things that way,' he said, adding that since Monday they have been working on establishing the instrument used by the Labour Minister Peter Siele to amend the Act. 'In my understanding if an Act or law is changed it has to go through Parliament. We don't even know if the process of advertising the amendment in the government Gazette has been followed,' Hlabano said. He stated that the teachers' unions would challenge the amendment and the inclusion of teachers under essential services in the courts of law.

'Government cannot enact an Act of the Public Service Act which is a give and take element of bargaining and then still want certain things to be unilateral,' the unionist said. 

He said a strike is the only weapon that can be used by employees to get attention in cases where their employer refuses to listen. 'With the rate government is going one cannot rule out the possibility of teachers being fired from work for standing their ground on the 'No Pay No Work' policy in response to the 'No Work No Pay' policy imposed by government during the strike,' Hlabano said.

This follows the eight weeks national strike where government employees were demanding a 16 percent salary increment, later reduced to three percent on condition that the dismissed essential service employees are reinstated unconditionally and the 'No Work No Pay' policy set aside. Government has since refused to accept these demands and the workers have suspended the strike while negotiations continue between the two parties.