RURAL teachers under the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) will next week Monday dump invigilation of final Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) examinations and all of their other duties to engage in industrial action until government gives in to their demands of a better salary.

 Exams started on 30 September and end 22 November.

 ARTUZ which is the smaller union of the three that represent teachers in Zimbabwe said they will not be forced to normalise an abnormal situation that government continues to ignore.

 Union President Obert Masaraure told NewZimbabwe.com the chaos that will follow was all government’s fault.

 “Teachers will not be attending to invigilations and any other responsibilities until the salaries are reviewed, we can no longer afford to normalise the abnormality obtaining in our schools,” said Masaraure.

 “Government has failed to pay our teachers a living wage and our education is now in turmoil. We warned them to review our salaries way back they turned a deaf ear, now teachers have resolved to down tools at a time when learners are sitting for examinations.”

 Teachers like doctors who are already on day 36 of industrial action, are demanding their salaries to be paid at an interbank rate since their contracts indicated that they were earning US dollars.

 Masaraure urged government to do away with Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube’s austerity measures.

Added Masaraure: “We urge government to drop its austerity measures and review our salaries for the good of education.

 “From 14 October going forward teachers will be withdrawing labour until our salaries are indexed with interbank rate.”