SADTU+slams+DoE+for+inefficiency+and+failure+to+pay+teachers

SOUTH AFRICAN DEMOCRATIC TEACHERS UNION (SADTU)

 * PRESS STATEMENT, 2 December 2006**

=//SADTU slams Department of Education for inefficiency and failure to pay teachers//=

Schools have now closed for the festive season. But spare a thought for the many teachers - in Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, and Northern Cape - who have still not received pay progression and other payments agreed in April this year.

Since April there have been several meetings of the task team to address these payments, but the provincial departments of education have been dragging their feet.

The final straw came yesterday – 1 December – when the Department of Education created chaos at a meeting of the ELRC (Education Labour Relations Council) when they revealed that they lacked information on which teachers have still to be paid.

SADTU – the majority union - slammed the Department for its response as it was tantamount to bargaining in bad faith. According to General Secretary, Thulas Nxesi, “The employer is fully aware of teachers who have not been paid. In some provinces the employer is delaying payment in a last ditch attempt to enforce performance assessments on teachers unlawfully. Teachers are being punished for monies due to them.”

In further evidence of crass inefficiency, the Department requested meetings dealing with the staffing of schools and workloads of educators to be cancelled as they were not ready to respond to these issues.

SADTU is awaiting the outcome of the final ELRC meeting to be held on the 5 December 2006 before taking the matter to its structures for action. According to Thulas Nxesi, “the Department needs to get its house in order. If we don’t get some progress – and quickly – the year will end on a sour note, and that means we start 2007 on a bad note as well. When the Department messes with the teachers it is not good for education in general.”

//SADTU is the largest union in the public service representing nearly two-thirds of teachers with a membership of 230,000, and the second largest union in the country.//


 * CONTACTS:**


 * //Thulas Nxesi, General Secretary 082 782 6877//**


 * //Don Pasquallie, Deputy General Secretary 079 492 4081//**


 * //Shireen Pardesi, National Negotiator 082 555 2488//**

=//Jon Lewis, Media Officer 082 567 5628//=

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