{"id":4247,"date":"2024-09-16T10:14:43","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T10:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=4247"},"modified":"2024-09-16T10:14:45","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T10:14:45","slug":"be-on-sick-leave-union-urges-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=4247","title":{"rendered":"Be on Sick Leave: Union Urges Teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br>Political Correspondent<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) is urging its members to take sick leave on the first day of school, citing a mental health crisis exacerbated by low salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The union demands a minimum salary of US$1,260, the right to strike, and improved working conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We are facing a mental health crisis due to the incapacitation crisis. Teachers are struggling to make ends meet, and it&#8217;s affecting their mental well-being,&#8221; said ARTUZ in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The union provided a template for teachers to write &#8220;sick leave&#8221; letters to school heads, detailing their struggles with mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I will seek mental health support from experts as I prepare for the third term. The outcome of the therapy will be advised at the end of the day,&#8221; reads the letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ARTUZ criticized &#8220;fake revolutionaries&#8221; who have abandoned the teachers&#8217; cause, saying &#8220;the battle lines are no longer blurred, we can now clearly see all the enemy forces on one side as we build workers&#8217; power in this protracted struggle for teacher dignity.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The union outlined specific demands, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A minimum salary of US$1,260<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The right to strike<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Disbanding of the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A moratorium on education levies for all learners during the drought season<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Invigilation allowances for all teachers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The quality of education will suffer if teachers&#8217; mental health and financial stability are not prioritized,&#8221; warned ARTUZ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zim GBC News\u00a92024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Political Correspondent The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) is urging its members to take sick leave on the first day of school, citing a mental health crisis exacerbated&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4249,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247\/revisions\/4249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}