The strike announced in Dar es Salaam on Monday by the Secretary General of the Congress, Nestory Ngulla, is intended to pressure the government to pay civil servants outstanding arrears dating back to January this year, after the government made an upward adjustment on the monthly minimum wage rate. An earlier strike planned for May this year was called off after the government agreed to pay the arrears as soon as possible.

Earlier the government was given two weeks to pay the civil servants but no action was taken although the government had said in a statement that it would pay the arrears this month after completing verification of some claims. Thus the new ultimatum is meant to give the government a chance to make good its promise as well as provide time for the organizers to make final touches to the preparations.

They claimed this time around that there would be no going back. The government had been given enough time to take action in order to avert the strike but it seems they do not take the workers seriously. So all the civil servants in the country's regions and districts will go on strike for three days beginning that date, and if the government does no take action the strike will go on until all claims are met. Ngula has urged civil servants to be prepared for the strike and a go ahead would be given a day before the event.

Following the announcement by the congress, Permanent Secretary in the President's Office, Public Service Management, George Yambesi, called upon civil servants to abort the strike as the government is currently verifying their claims and they would be paid soon after the exercise was over.

There is no point of calling a strike now because we are almost through with the verification exercise. Everyone who is entitled to payment will be given their dues, he said, adding that only a few individuals are engineering the strike for their own personal interests.

While the Congress has set a date for the strike, the Tanzania Teachers Union is mobilizing teachers throughout the country to take part in a strike in order to press for payment of salary areas and various allowances. The teachers had threatened to strike early this year but the government acted quickly by paying out their claims. However it later came to light that only a few teachers were paid and these were the ones who had connections in high government circles. Another category of those who were paid were teachers working in district and regional headquarters while claims by the majority of those working in the rural areas had not been attended to.

The Teachers Union is now mobilizing its members for the strike to be held after two months unless the government settles their claims which stand at a total 16.8 billion shillings (about USD 16 million).

Commenting on the teachers claims the Permanent Secretary said that the government has set aside the money required paying their claims,; but we have to satisfy ourselves that the claims are genuine. We are also in the process of verifying these claims and we shall pay them once they are through with the exercise.