Backlash over clampdown on Zimbabwean teachers

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has urged President Emmerson Mnangagwa to urgently release teachers who were arrested during a demonstration over salaries last week. eNCA reports that 16 suspects appeared in court on Saturday and were denied bail. They were charged with gathering to promote violence and bigotry. The teachers are being represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights who claims its clients were assaulted by police. ITUC secretary general Sharan Burrow decried the fact that workers' conditions have deteriorated to levels far worse than the era of the late former President. He reminded Mnangagwa that prior to assuming power from former President Robert Mugabe, teachers were earning salaries of US$540 per month which has now dropped to about US$200. ‘The teachers and the rest of the workers in your country have a very clear message: they want to be paid their United States dollars as was the case prior to October 2018. They are not demanding more, and it has already been proven that your government cannot go beyond what Mugabe left,’ she added. New Zimbabwe reports that the ITUC urged Mnangagwa to respect the rights of workers to freedom of association as provided for in the Zimbabwe Constitution, the ILO Conventions on Freedom of Association and Protection of the right to organise among other international human rights obligations.