TEACHERS TO FIGHT FOR BETTER PAY, RESPECT

MANZINI – Could the upcoming 2020/21 salary review be a defining moment for civil servants?

This is a question that could cross one’s mind after learning that the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) seeks to explore all available avenues so that after the salary review, teachers could be counted among the highly-paid and well-respected workers in the country.

Sikelela Dlamini, the SNAT Secretary General, who is also part of the Public Sector Associations’ (PSAs) secretariat, revealed this in his World Teachers’ Day statement, which he released on Monday. 

celebrated

The World Teachers Day is an internationally celebrated day, commemorated on October 5 every calendar year since 1966. 

It is a day on which focus is directed to the contributions and achievements of teachers and to highlight their concerns and priorities regarding education.

In his statement, the teachers’ union secretary general said they were celebrating their day at a time when they faced a myriad of challenges in their sector, including low remuneration. 

He said when compared with other teachers in the rest of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region, they were not properly remunerated. 

He said the economy of the country depended on that of the Republic of South Africa; Africa’s second largest economy. 

Therefore, he said their standard of living was undoubtedly high. 

He said the meagre salaries that they were paid painted a gloomy picture about the future of the teaching profession.

 “This noble profession is relegated to the background because it is not paying the teachers salaries that are commensurate with the immense effort they put in emancipating the citizens of Eswatini from the bondage of illiteracy,” the secretary general said.

In fact, he said members of the teaching fraternity were allegedly regarded as second-class citizens when it came to such benefits. He said the only benefit that teachers normally received, which was also insignificant because of the inflation, was housing allowance, which stood at E601 before tax.

Travelling allowance, according to Dlamini, was still claimed at E0.17 per kilometre. 

He said as teachers, they did not have medical aid and car allowances, to name a few. 

Meagre

“This literally means that teachers use their meagre salaries in funding costs that traditionally are to be funded by the employer,” he said.

In that regard, the unionist said they were banking their hopes on that the coming salary review exercise would award significant salaries and fringe benefits to their members. 

He said at the Joint Negotiations Forum (JNF), the parties had already signed a collective agreement, according to which the government committed to reviewing allowances for all its employees, including teachers.

It is worth noting that SNAT is one of the four trade unions under the banner of PSAs and they sit together when they meet with government at the roundtable to negotiate salary increments and allowances, among other things.  

Again, it is also worth mentioning that while civil servants, including teachers, were fighting for increased salaries and allowances, government on the other hand, was all out to reduce the country’s wage bill, which is expected to be E8.617 billion this year, as per the advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

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