TEACHER UNIONS TO MERGE- TO CREATE A UNITED VOICE FOR BETTER CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

By KETRA KALUNGA
TEACHER unions are in the process of merging to come up with one strong voice on matters affecting the profession, the Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) has disclosed.

ZNUT secretary-general, Newman Bubala said the process is ongoing and as a union, they are resolved to join other teacher unions to form one body.

Mr. Bubala said in an interview that all the nine unions have agreed to come together and the process which is awaiting legal advice from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security is in progress.

“No one is against merging, it is the process and the process needs legal advice, it needs the ministry of Labour to advise. There are a lot of technicalities but we have resolved, true we need to merge to become strong,” he said.

He was commenting on sentiments from a teacher pressure group called the Teachers National Revolutionary Movement that the unions in the country have failed to represent their plight and that they should merge to form one strong voice.

Mr. Bubala said the issue of automatic upgrade which union members are concerned about has been a challenge because of the issue of the establishment.

He however assured that progress has been made by the government to ensure that the thorny issue of upgrading schools in all establishments is addressed to suit the information on the ground.

“And it’s good that the establishment has been approved following submission of data gathered in all schools, what is remaining is for funding from the Treasury and the government is working around that,” Mr. Bubala said.