TEACHERS FINALLY CALL OFF STRIKE AFTER MEETING PRESIDENT MUSEVENI

Posted On 05 Jul 2022

By : mk

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In Kampala—

The leadership of Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU) has suspended their industrial action hours after meeting President Museveni at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds in Kampala.

Primary teachers and teachers of arts subjects in secondary schools have been on a sit-down strike since June 15 over discriminatory salary enhancement in favor of teachers of science subjects in government school.
Several meetings between the teachers’ leadership and government officials, including the Vice President and the president held earlier did not yield fruits after they failed to agree.

After the meeting with teachers, Mr Museveni issued a statement and said: “I assured them that while government acknowledges the issues raised by the Arts teachers, we are also aware of salary issues from other workers; the army, Police officers, etc who are equally important to the growth and development of this country. We have provided a position as government and pledged to competitively remunerate workers guided by a science-led strategy. This does not mean we have forgotten others, but we are choosing to prioritize the few and others can come later. We must finish one problem at a time.”

“The Arts teachers insist that we should use the available resources to improve salaries across the board, whilst this is possible, it does not solve the salary issue. It is sprinkling, where everyone will get a little and then next year everyone strikes,” President Museveni said after the meeting.