LABOUR unions representing civil servants were yesterday divided over the 40% pay offer by government following a prolonged salary dispute with their employer. BY RICHARD MUPONDE Some said negotiations had failed to yield results and preferred to declare a deadlock and refer the matter for arbitration, while others said talks must be given a chance. The divisions are set to further cripple the education sector which is currently mired in chaos with most schools operated without teachers after their unions stuck to their US$520 salary demand during the last round of negotiations last week. This also comes at a time government, in a desperate attempt to get teachers back to work last Friday offered a pay rise which will see the lowest paid teacher earning over $19 975.But the educators turned it down. The lowest paid civil servant will earn $14 528 as per latest government offer. Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou told NewsDay that the best option for teachers was to declare a deadlock in order to push for arbitration. Zhou said there were discrepancies between teachers and other government workers like the uniformed forces who allegedly got better pay than other civil servants. “Nothing was done to discuss discrepancies between teachers and other government workers. It is unpalatable to pay teachers $18 000 and then pay other government workers $28 000 to $50 000,” Zhou said. “If, therefore, the Apex Council (civil service negotiating body) leaders hope to get some semblance of respectability from teachers, they must push for a declaration of a deadlock so that the issue of teachers’ starvation wages is referred for arbitration. Of course, we cannot harvest apples from a thorn tree. There may be a need for teachers across the unions’ divide to push Apex Council to pursue the deadlock and arbitration route.” Zhou also said there was no struggle without casualties, urging the teachers’ unions to budget for protracted legal battles. “The current submission of names of incapacitated teachers must never be used for punitive measures against teachers as in essence, it is the government that incapacitated teachers. Above all, we have taken all the necessary procedures of communicating the plight of our members to the Public Service Commission (PSC), line ministries, and even President Emmerson Mnangagwa as PTUZ and as a united front.” Zimta chief executive Sifiso Ndlovu said his organisation was consulting its members, but castigated the government for intimidating teachers. “Government simply came with a position which it is forcing us to take. This is no longer negotiation,” he said. Teachers have not been reporting for work for the past two months pleading incapacitation. But Apex Council spokesperson David Dzatsunga said the PTUZ and other like-minded unions should stop mudslinging, but follow legal negotiating channels that do not politicise the issue of workers. “To start with, we are the bona fide negotiator at law. PTUZ and whoever wants to negotiate, who thinks that they can neg