Government calls teachers for crisis meet over salaries

The government yesterday invited teachers for a meeting today to discuss their demands for salary enhancement after the latter vowed to lay down their tools tomorrow.
“I have received a call from Public Service to meet them tomorrow (today) at President’s Office. I have not received the agenda. We hadn’t received any official communication from government yet. The month of July is ending tomorrow (today).

“After tomorrow (today), we shall communicate to our members on what to do next. They (government) had told us they would give us feedback by end of July. We are waiting. We are also giving them the benefit of the doubt since the President had asked to give us feedback by end of July,” Mr Filbert Baguma, the Unatu general secretary, told Daily Monitor yesterday.

Public Service involved
The invitation was extended to representatives of other Public Service workers union to attend the National Negotiating and Consultative Council hosted by Public Service Ministry.
Mr Claudius Olweny, the National Negotiating and Consultative Council chairperson, confirmed the meeting but declined to share the agenda.
“The secretariat has invited people tomorrow (today). It will be a high-level meeting,” Mr Olweny said yesterday.
It is not clear whether lecturers from public universities were also considered to attend the meeting as they had also warned not to report for duty tomorrow unless their salaries have been enhanced.

Earlier, Ministry of Education Undersecretary, Mr Aggrey Kibenge, appealed to the teachers and lecturers to be patient as the government looks for a solution. He said government was still holding discussions with various stakeholders and the final position would be communicated.
“The government is discussing the matter of all the teachers and university staff. They should be patient as their issue will be resolved soon,” Mr Kibenge said by telephone yesterday.
He assured the teachers under the Uganda National Teachers Union (Unatu) that President Museveni’s earlier promise would be fulfilled.
On May 26, the President requested the teachers to suspend their industrial action and promised to report back on the progress by end of July but teachers were agitated yesterday why government had not yet engaged them.

Yesterday, Dr Grace Lubaale, the Forum for Academic Staff in Public Universities (Faspu) chairperson, said the President’s pledge to increase their salaries up to Shs15m a month for a professor was not reflected in the 2019/2020 financial year and efforts to have it fixed last month did not yield results.
Mr Jackson Betihamah, who heads Public Universities Non-Teaching Staff Executive Forum (Puntesef), told Daily Monitor that an earlier planned meeting with Education minister Janet Museveni was yesterday cancelled indefinitely without any reason.

“We uphold the Faspu-Puntesef resolution of June 27, which states that if the balance of presidential pledge on salary enhancement is not given in financial year 2019/2020, all staff in public universities will not resume work effective August 1,” a joint letter by both the academic and non-teaching staff reads in part.
Some universities such as Kyambogo are scheduled to open their academic year tomorrow while primary and secondary schools close on August 23 for second term holidays and report back in September for third term.
Unatu hopes that a primary teacher under U7 salary scale who currently earns Shs467,000 per month will get Shs600,000 if government honours its pledge while senior education assistants will move from Shs550,000 to Shs670,000.

Those under U5 scale (deputy head-teachers in primary and Grade V teachers in both secondary and other tertiary institutions are supposed to move from Shs670,000 to Shs1.1m as their science counterparts will get an extra Shs100,000. Head teachers of primary schools and teachers with degrees in U4 scale will earn Shs1.7m while their science counterparts will earn Shs2.2m.

Salaries

Unatu hopes that a primary teacher under U7 salary scale, who currently earns Shs467,000 per month, will get Shs600,000 if government honours its pledge, while senior education assistants will move from Shs550,000 to Shs670,000.
Those under U5 scale are supposed to move from Shs670,000 to Shs1.1m as their science counterparts will get an extra Shs100,000.

[email protected]