By Paul Nyathi|The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe on Monday walked out of the government and teachers negotiations meeting.

The union leaders walked out of the meeting claiming that the government was not making commitments to the discussions but only trying to bulldoze the teachers to call off the strike action set to start on Tuesday.

ARTUZ Secretary General Obert Masaraure told journalists on the sidelines of the meeting that all rural teachers will not report for duty when schools open on Tuesday.

“Nothing came out of the meeting with the Minister as he is not making any commitments to solving our issues but only wanting is to return to work,” said Masaraure.

“Our members are going ahead with the industrial action as arranged,” he said.

Secretary General of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe Raymond Majongwe also confirmed that the meeting with the minister produced no results.

“We are going ahead with the talks with government as nothing concrete has come out of the talks,” he said.

Majongwe said that the union has not taken a decision on teachers going back to work.

“We will only have a decision when talks with the Minister are exhausted,” said Majongwe.

The Zimbabwe Teachers Association director Sifiso Ndlovu also said that his union has not been able to take a decision on whether the teachers should return to work or not as talks with government are still on going.

ZANU PF aligned Federation of Zimbabwean Teachers Union meanwhile issued a statement claiming that government and teachers had reached an agreement and teachers will be written to work.