The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Amon Murwira has bluntly told incapacitated state university lecturers to leave the profession if they were unhappy with their current wages.
According to a communiqué issued by the Zimbabwe Unions Staff Association (ZUSA), the minister snubbed the association’s representatives and only hand-picked one member whom he held a meeting with in his office.
“He (the minister) preferred to summon one member to his office and indicated that the government was working on condition of service for university workers. He showed his interest in the issues brought to him,” the communique reads.
“He reiterated that state university workers must exercise patience, trust and collegiality or pack their bags.”
The communiqué was signed by representatives of all the country’s 10 state universities.
During the meeting, Murwira reportedly told the restive workers to wait for the current government and APEX negotiations.
However, the university lecturers said they were incapacitated to continue reporting for work.
“Regrettably, the minister has abandoned the agreed regional parity position. In light of the above developments, state universities’ staff associations representatives as mandated by their members resolved that all state university employees are incapacitated to report for duty with immediate effect.”
The university lecturers are demanding minimum monthly salaries of US$1 600.
