It reminded me of a story I read in Business Day in January. Apparently teachers in Gauteng had been holding political meetings during school hours. Ronald Nyathi, the chairman of the Gauteng branch of SADTU (South African Democratic Teachers’ Union), defended the teachers rights to do this, because apparently "the Labour Relations Act allowed the union to call meetings during working hours, which it had “always” done and would continue to do." and "Teaching hours lost would be made up in the early mornings or in the afternoons"
Nyathi also commented that the schooling in his area would “not be stable” until Jacob Zuma became president (Article here).
Which was all pretty bit dubious. Teachers bunking school to attend political meetings?
The DA, IFP and ANC all condemned Nyali's statements.
Last year Nyathi also told parents from a school in Alexandra to keep their kids away from school the next day: “not a single pupil should be at school tomorrow because they will be exposed to extreme violence.” This was after the provincial education department suspended a whole lot of teachers at that school for not teaching.
Unions are important to protect their members from exploitation, of course. But they shouldn't be protecting people who are not doing their jobs. And they certainly shouldn't be doing it violently. Particularly if children are involved.
What a bad precedent to set to kids!
I found another interesting article from last year, a bit of an overview of political battles being played out in schools:
... organisations wanting to flex their political muscles in schools are doing so to the detriment of children...
... a trend by the South African Democratic Teacher Union (SADTU), in particular, to use threats in schools to get what they want. Earlier in 2009 there were reports that, after teachers were reprimanded in Alexandra for not teaching children, Sadtu threatened that every child who came to school would be met with violence.
A memo came to light from Sadtu, which wanted to put a stop to curriculum training by the Gauteng Department of Education, because such training takes place on Saturdays and in the afternoons on weekdays. Sadtu said teachers must be paid overtime for the courses.
"Anything that extends beyond the working hours and conditions of service of our members will be a declaration of hostilities," the letter read.
"We are in a state of perpetual readiness as Sadtu to disrupt these meetings and declare war on anyone who is arrogant to disregard this call." Article here.
Hmmmm... so I do think Naledi Pandor's warning was well placed. This is something to keep an eye on as elections approach!
