A group of Mozambican teachers said on Thursday, November 10, that professionals in the sector will boycott exams across the country starting on Tuesday if the government does not respond to demands on the new Single Wage Table (TSU).
“The 14th is the last day we are waiting for an answer and on the 15th we will be paralyzing activities nationwide,” one of the group’s spokespersons, who spoke under anonymity, told reporters.
The threat to boycott the exams comes a day after the National Organization of Teachers (ONP), the oldest and largest in the country, acknowledged in a press conference, irregularities in the framework of graduate teachers in the new TSU, advocating permanent dialogue and ruling out any scenario of strike.
The aforementioned spokesperson for the group, who has no connection to the ONP, demanded the reinstatement of subsidies that had been withdrawn or reduced as part of the reforms introduced by the new salary scale in the civil service. She pointed to the psychopedagogical allowance as one of the benefits that the government eliminated and which the teachers are now demanding be returned, and also demanded that overtime be removed from the base salary, so that it would not be subject to tax.
Another teacher, who also asked not to be identified, said that teachers who teach in urban areas also demand a financial incentive like those who work in rural areas, who receive a localization allowance.
They also want a risk allowance to be introduced, because “teachers consume a lot of chalk” during their work (which, being a toxic product, can have health consequences), and a school exam allowance, due to the overload during the final exams period.
The Mozambican general secondary school begins the final exams for the 2022 school year on the 14th.
On Wednesday, November 9, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, said in Parliament that the cases of net salary reduction in the civil service are due to the tax burden applied to salaries paid under the new TSU.
Tonela was speaking during the urgent parliamentary debate on the “risks of paralysis of the civil service” convened at the request of the bench of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition party.
“In view of the increase in the amount of the base salary resulting from the implementation of the reform, taking into account the combined effect of the existence of the progressive tax regime and the deductions for retirement, we have registered some situations of reduction in the net salary,” he said.
These cases, he continued, particularly affected professionals in the special regime career, namely doctors, magistrates and teachers connected to the research area.
The Minister of Economy and Finance considered legitimate some of the complaints filed by civil servants regarding the new wage matrix, pointing out that some are due to procedural flaws, others result from interpretation and others derive from the management of expectations.
The urgent debate on the “risks of paralysis of the civil service” took place in a context where several professional classes in the civil service are contesting the TSU, due to errors in the framework, elimination of subsidies and reduction of salaries.
The Medical Association of Mozambique rescheduled for December 5 the national strike that was scheduled for Monday after negotiating advances, but still awaiting a response to various claims.
The Mozambican Association of Judges (AMJ) threatened on Monday to challenge the new remuneration matrix, considering that the instrument “calls into question the constitutional status of judges.
