NO-WORK, NO-PAY TO BITE 1 466 TEACHERS

MANZINI – Government will save E597 520 in the Manzini Region alone, as 509 teachers will have their salaries deducted in line with the no-work, no-pay rule.

These teachers are a fraction of 1 466 educators whose names were submitted to the Treasury Department to have their salaries deducted for being absent at their duty stations at the height of the industrial action that was undertaken by civil servants in recent weeks.

The 1 466 teachers are derived from the fact that by yesterday, the Manzini Region had the most number of absentees as 509 teachers were listed. It was followed by the Hhohho Region which had 400 teachers listed as being absent while Shiselweni had about 307 teachers reported to have been absent during the industrial action.

The Lubombo Region recorded the least number of absentees, as 250 were recorded. However, these numbers, according to sources, were expected to inflate as some schools were still submitting their forms to their respective offices of regional education officers (REOs).

Remuneration

A document intercepted by this publication revealed the list of teachers who shall not enjoy their normal ‘monthly remuneration. This document is titled primary and high schools - teachers’ attendances during strike action’.

The deductions to be made on the salaries of the educators vary due to their pay scale and notches. It was established by this publication that on average, the least deduction was E350 while the maximum deduction was E2 800.

However, when rough calculations were made, it transpired that some teachers would have as high as E3 800 deducted from their salaries. This is because the maximum days the teachers were not at their duty stations differ and range between one and 11.
Worth noting though, is that the industrial action, which was spearheaded by three public sector associations (PSAs) following that their members balloted and voted for a strike, lasted eight days.

Duration

However, some members were recorded to have been absent for 11 days. This is despite the fact that the duration of the civil servants’ strike action was eight days as it started on Monday September 23, 2019 and ended on Wednesday October 2, 2019 when the Industrial Court of Eswatini issued an interim order stopping it.

The three PSAs are: Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) and Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP).

These three unions that represent civil servants were carrying the mandate of their members who were demanding that they be compensated for inflation accrued in the 2017/2018 financial year. This demand was for 7.85 per cent. Given the absence of the educators at their worksstations, government released duty forms that had to be filled in by head teachers reflecting the number of teachers that were present.

This, in turn, exposed those who were not present at their workstations, who were then assumed to have been attending the industrial action. This form had to be filled three times a day, which was in the morning, midday and at knock-off time.

This information was then handed over to the REOs, who in turn submitted them to the Ministry of Education and Training.
After computing the information that was compiled by the head teachers, the ministry handed over the forms to the Treasury Department, which would then effect the deductions.

Deductions

By yesterday afternoon, this publication established that about 276 teachers would feel the pinch of the no-work, no-pay this month. The others, it was gathered, would feel the impact of the deductions at the end of next month – November, 2019.

This is because the aforementioned figure was loaded into the system to compute their salaries so that the no-work, no-pay exercise be implemented.
Meanwhile, on the list of the people to be affected by the no-work, no-pay school names, full names of the educators, the teachers’ Teaching Service Commission (TSC) employment numbers were listed to identify them.

The list also contained the dates and number of days on which the teachers were absent from work.
This publication noted that on the leaked list, teachers who were occupying certain positions in SNAT appeared to have been absent from work for many days. These teachers include national executive committee (NEC), general council (GC) members and SNAT representatives in schools, who are widely known as shop stewards.

To this, SNAT President Mbongwa Dlamini said they viewed the stance taken by the employer as union bashing. He said this was because the Industrial Relations Act of 2000 gave workers, union members, a right to attend union activities.
Dlamini said the no-work, no-pay rule should only apply during a strike action, not union activity.

It is also worth mentioning that according to the list, the teachers’ union leaders appear to have been absent from work for between eight and 11 days while others are said to have failed to report for duty between once and eight times during the strike action.
Worth noting is that SNAT and regional education officers (REOs) were at loggerheads after the latter were instructed by the Ministry of Education and Training to gather information about the executives of the union.

The Ministry of Education and Training advised REOs to gather details of SNAT leaders in the different regions and furnish it with their the information. This was communicated through a message that was sent to the REOs.

It sought them to attain the names of branch leaders, their leaders and the members of the national executive council (NEC).
According to some of the REOs, who preferred to give an insight into the matter under anonymity in fear of their supervisors, they heed to the instruction from their bosses and started gathering the information of the SNAT leaders.

However, while doing so, the REOs claimed that information started circulating that they were seeking the information to use it when implementing the no-work, no-pay.

Disarray

This, they said, sent the whole exercise into disarray.
“When I made calls to abtain information from some head teachers about the teachers that were leading SNAT, the head teachers quickly claimed to be in areas where they had poor network connections,” one REO claimed. The education officer claimed that gathering information just became difficult as there was no cooperation at all from the relevant authorities. To salvage the situation, it is said one of the officers approached the Secretary General SNAT, Sikelela Dlamini.

When doing so, the officer is said to have been informed by the unionist that the ministry dealt with the association directly not through REOs. The delay in gathering the details of all the leaders of SNAT led to the REOs not having all the necessary information on the date it was needed.

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