Demanding a protected right to collective bargaining in Zimbabwe!

Teacher’s rights in Zimbabwe

Alongside thousands of broader human rights violations, linked to the political agenda of the ruling party, the Zimbabwean government has pushed to repress the bargaining power of civil society by revoking NGO registrations and passing laws that undermine civil liberties like the freedoms of expression and association. Most profoundly, a new Public Service Amendment Bill was presented before Parliament in October 2025, that was framed as an essential modernization of Zimbabwe’s public service but, in reality, strips away essential labour rights and increases the government’s control over employees in the public sector.

First, the Bill allows the government to impose conditions of service, like salaries, even if employees are not meaningfully negotiated with. This policy comes at a time when teachers have been collectively demanding wage increases for over ten years without success, still earning only a fourth of the salary they would need to afford basic necessities like healthcare and housing. Second, the Bill hands the Minister the ability to label any public service (including education) ‘essential’, subsequently criminalizing strikes that last over 72 hours within this sector with heavy fines or even imprisonment and essentially removing the sector’s right to protest. Moreover, the Bill lacks clear procedures for appeals of unfair treatment by the Public Service Commission and does not safeguard paternity leave or fully paid maternity leave. Together, the revision of these policies seriously endangers the right to strike and leaves teachers without protected avenues for collective bargaining.

Nationwide protests

To resist the passing of the amendment to the Public Service Act and protect the right to collective bargaining, the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) organized protests across the country throughout November 2025.

Founded in 2014, ARTUZ emphasizes that teachers cannot sustain the education of future generations while living in poverty and has trained hundreds of teachers to improve their paralegal skills and knowledge about political economy over the years. Besides the improvement of teachers’ rights, the union advocates for a more liberalized education system, in which corporal punishment is banned and sanitary pads are provided for free.

With the support of Het Actiefonds, the 2025 protests led to successful pickets across 52 public schools and convinced allies across civil society to support the push for the right to collective bargaining. Ultimately, the protests culminated in a petition that was submitted to parliament and led the parliamentary legal committee to issue an adverse report against the Public Service Act bill.

To capitalize off of the gained alliances and pressure applied to the Parliament, ARTUZ will launch an online media campaign to advance the cause across the wider national public. Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this action and will continue to stand in solidarity with the fight for just worker’s rights in Zimbabwe.