Govt, TUM gloves off

It’s not over yet! Barely hours after government issued a statement that the Teachers Union of Malawi (TUM) had agreed to call off the strike, the grouping has stated that no teacher will resume work until Covid-19 allowances are paid.

The union is demanding  a monthly allowance of K35 000 beginning March 8 2021 for six months—which if government pays, would mean forking a whopping K3.6 billion a month for the 103 003 public teachers.

But government, through Principal Secretary for Administration in the Ministry of Education Kiswell Dakamau insists TUM cannot walk back on the agreement to call off the strike.

He said government expects teachers nationwide to resume work.

A statement signed by the TUM president Willie Malimba, who ironically also signed the agreement with government on Tuesday, said a meeting of 34 TUM district representatives resolved to continue with the sit in.

He said TUM was fully aware of the consequences of the continued teachers’s strike on the education system and is committed to be part of the solution to end the stand-off so that teaching and learning comes to normalcy as soon as possible.

Said Malimba: “Government through the teacher’s employer should provide a minimum of K35 000 monthly risk allowance for six months; and review the allowance based on the status of Covid-19 infections and deaths.

“If funds are not immediately available, commitment to pay allowances within a month after the passing of the 2021/22 National Budget, to ensure that the budget for the risk allowances is included in the 2021/22 National Budget. Arrears accumulated from March to July should be paid in August 2021, together with August 2021 allowances, followed by a review.”

He also said TUM feels obliged to protect the interest of its members, the majority of whom have faithfully supported the demand for the risk allowances through the strike.

“Government’s continued argument that teachers are not at risk does not hold water as it fails to fully consider the state of play. It would, therefore, be shear ignorance for government to maintain this proposition when in another breadth the same government has pledged to offer vaccine to teachers during the first phase.

“This is evidence enough that teachers are at risk and need the protection. The Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 as well as Ministry of Education agreed to provide these allowances in a document dated July 2020,” Malimba added.

His statement came just hours after TUM’s 34 district chairpersons distanced themselves from the agreement he signed with government to call off the strike and resume work.

The statement reads: “The statement signed between TUM Unec [Union National Executive Committee] and Ministry of Education does not contain and address the main issue of risk allowance; hence, we are ordering Unec to withdraw the signed MoU today the 4th of March 2021.”

The agreement statement signed by Malimba, Dakamau and chief labour commissioner Hlalerwayo Kelvin Nyangulu, indicated government’s appreciation of the challenges teachers faces, and that schools belong to medium exposure risk occupations.

“It is, therefore, advised that teachers should not handle Covid-19 positive patients, medical, post-mortem or laboratory procedures related to Covid-19. These should immediately be referred to health authorities.

“Having discussed all these issues as above, TUM agreed that the ongoing industrial strike is called off and that all teachers will resume work on Thursday, 4th March 2021,” reads the agreement, in part.

Blame-game

On why he had a change of heart after signing the agreement with government, Malimba said he was ambushed to sign the document.

“It was not a normal thing; I was just ambushed to sign that document. I never accepted to call off the strike,” he said.

However, Dakamau said they never forced Malimba to sign the document, wondering how someone would be forced to be in a meeting for three days.

He said the whole TUM executive of 16 members attended the meetings, suggesting that Malimba is reversing his decision because of pressure from members.

“How would we force him to sign a document? He was in the meeting for three days and you say we forced him? What he signed is a legal document and we expect teachers to return to work. For us, this issue is concluded.

“If there are issues, let them follow proper procedures. They write us and we will see how best to resolve the issues. If we fail, then they provide days as stipulated in labour laws to declare withdrawal of labour,” advised Dakamau.

On his part, educationist Steve Sharra said if the country really appreciates the teachers’ welfare, government should handle teachers’ concerns in a meaningful way.

Another academic, Limbani Nsapato said the Education Cluster on Covid-19 already recommended the allowances; hence, TUM was not to blame for demanding the same.

“The least that can be done is to include the risk allowance in the 2021/22 budget and pay teachers arrears after the budget is passed. This can solve the impasse,” he suggested.

Situation unsustainable

Earlier, economist Milward Tobias argued that the current public sector wage bill is not only unsustainable but also unjustified and called on government to be cautious when dealing with any proposal that increases the wage bill.

He said: “Unfortunately, there is no apparent capacity to correct the mistakes.”

Institute of Chartered Accountants in Malawi president Francis Chinjoka Gondwe also warned that spending an additional K4 billion per month on teachers’ risk allowances would further worsen the country’s deficit situation.

He advised the concerned parties to remove personal interest on the matter and look at the bigger picture.

Lilongwe said if it were to pay the risk allowance to teachers, it would need an extra K4 billion per month or K40 billion for the 10-month covering the school calendar up to December, according to a document compiled by Ministry of Education.