Lecturers at Zimbabwe’s three state universities have called off a three-week pay strike after being ordered back to work by the country’s labour court, their union said on Wednesday.
The lecturers are to go immediately into fresh negotiations with their employers, hoping to resolve an ongoing salary dispute.
”We are back at work,” said James Mahlaule, president of the Association of University Teachers (AUT). ”The labour court ordered that the strike stop immediately. It also ordered that we go straight into negotiations with our employer.”
Lecturers at the University of Zimbabwe in the capital, Harare; the National University of Science and Technology in the second city of Bulawayo; and the Midlands State University embarked on the strike following a long-unresolved pay grievance.
They are demanding a minimum monthly salary of Z$1,7-million for a junior lecturer, up from the current Z$431 000, and Z$3-million for professors.
In addition, they want 50% of the proposed salaries in housing and transport allowances.
The lecturers now want the salary to be reviewed to Z$1,9-million in line with inflation, Mahlaule said.
The Southern African country is in the midst of an economic crisis characterised by an inflation rate of 1 730% as well as shortages of basic commodities and fuel. — Sapa-AFP