TEACHERS TO HOLD VIGIL AT GOVT OFFICES

A section of the teachers who attended the meeting yesterday listening to speakers.

MANZINI – Teachers in the country have vowed to hold a vigil on July 5, 2016 at the negotiation chambers before holding the Government Negotiation Team (GNT) hostage the next day until they table a better offer.

The teachers resolved this during their urgent extraordinary general meeting held at the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Centre yesterday. They said they would do this in a bid to force government to table an improved offer. 

The resolution was taken after a number of the teachers’ union, SNAT members, suggested that as the salary review talks were expected to resume on July 6, 2016, they should hold a vigil at the negotiation chambers the day before so that when the GNT arrives the following morning, it will find them already camped there to support their leaders during the negotiations process.

One of the members suggested that while their leaders and the GNT negotiate inside the negotiation chambers, they should be singing and dancing outside to put pressure on the government team.

“If they call us to order, we will march around the city street and make the noise there. However, if our leaders happen to require a mandate from us during the negotiations, there will be no need to postpone the meeting as we will give them the directive there and then.

“Again, we will not allow anyone between the two teams to leave the negotiation chambers until government offers an acceptable percentage. If the negotiations need to take the whole day and night before we get what we want, let it be,” the SNAT member said. His submission was followed by a loud round of applause and whistles, a sign which showed that the other members were in agreement.

Another member, Isaac Dlamini from the Mankayane branch, who supported the motion, urged the teachers to fight for what they wanted. He said they had been on the round table with government several times without reaching any agreement.

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