Teachers’ strike continues in East and North Darfur

The Teachers Union branch of East Darfur and the Ministry of Finance have failed to reach a settlement to resolve the payment of the salaries arrears. The secondary school teachers of El Fasher locality continue striking, despite threats by the governor of North Darfur State to dismiss them. The strike of the teachers in East Darfur has entered its third week. The Teachers Union adheres to its demand of payment of 50 percent of the total arrears, amounting to more than SDG 3.3 million ($900,000). Speaking to Radio Dabanga from Ed Daein, capital of East Darfur, Ali Eisa, Secretary-General of the state’s Teachers Union branch reported that the Union failed to reach an agreement with the Ministry of Finance on the payment of the dues and salaries arrears. He explained that the Ministry of Finance proposed to pay the salaries of August and September, which are not part of the arrears. “We insisted on the payment of half of the arrears, and as this was refused by the ministry, we decided to continue striking until we have received our full entitlements.” North Darfur The secondary school teachers of El Fasher locality entered their third day of protest against the non-payment of salary raises and part of their delayed salaries, without any signs of a solution to the problem. “The teachers had submitted a memorandum to the governor of North Darfur State about the non-payment of the salary raises. The governor responded by forming a technical committee to study the matter”, Oubi Ahmed, a member of the Teachers Union of North Darfur State, told Radio Dabanga. “The teachers, however, refused to wait for the outcome. They formed a committee themselves, distributed leaflets to the schools, after which they embarked on an unofficial strike. The North Darfur State committee announced that it will submit its report in the coming days.” The North Darfur State authorities on Monday summoned representatives of the Teachers Union and some secondary school directors, and warned them for continuing the illegal strike. The authorities threatened to dismiss the striking teachers if they would not give up their protest. The secondary school teachers refused to end their strike, whereupon the North Darfur State authorities reportedly dismissed the directors of the Darfur Secondary School and Unity Secondary School, in an attempt to stop the strike. The teachers, however, reacted by saying that they will continue striking “until the problems have been solved comprehensively”. They described the dismissal threats as unlawful, stressing that they have the constitutional right to strike. North Darfur State Governor Osman Kibir, in an address at a meeting of members of the ruling National Congress Party in the state’s capital of El Fasher, accused the striking teachers of seeking to achieve political goals. The Sudanese Workers’ Trade Unions Federation (SWTUF) in Khartoum urged the government of North Darfur State to pay the salary raises “as soon as possible, because it is obligatory, as it is for the rest of the states”. SWTUF holds the North Darfur State responsible for the non-payment of the arrears, and the consecutive strike of the teachers. Fathallah Abdel Gader, responsible for labour relations at SWTUF, told Radio Dabanga that the North Darfur State authorities “bear full responsibility for the payment of the salary increases, as stipulated in the 2005 decree issued by the Federal Government Chamber”. “All Sudanese states committed themselves to apply the salary increases, so North Darfur State does not have any excuse for not paying the teachers’ dues.” File photo: Secondary school for boys and girls in Um Maraheik, North Darfur (Albert González Farran/Unamid) Related:Secondary school teachers strike in North Darfur’s El Fasher (8 September 2014)East Darfur’s salaries to be paid, tribal committee takes oath (5 September 2014)